Nissan's model for women car buyers

Nissan Motor Company takes its women car buyers seriously.

This is what prompted the Japanese automaker to set up its ‘Attractiveness Creation Group for Women' six years ago. As Manager of this business activity (and the Customer Oriented Engineering Department), Ms Rena Sofue and her team have to monitor how the Nissan brand is perceived by women.

“We are dedicated to creating attractive cars which meet the needs of female customers. Some of these cars do not appeal to women and our job is to work on each of Nissan's models to see if they can be more inclusive,” Ms Sofue told Business Line over telephone from Japan.

“Traditionally, women have been perceived to be economically and physically weaker than men. Times are changing now with more women leaving their homes to study or work and becoming part of the larger working community,” she says.

Yet, women drivers still need to be assured of security and protection along with top-class mobility. It is here that cars become a reliable ally to give their users the right comfort, freedom and flexibility. “Women tend to treat a car more as a partner while to men it is like a tool which gives them a sense of achievement and superiority,” Ms Sofue says.

According to her, there are safety-related issues in many parts of the world thanks largely to growing crime rates. “Women drivers, therefore, need greater protection. Cars need to be like a cocoon within which women are protected…,” Ms Sofue says.

The Attractiveness Creation Group also found from its research that men and women buy cars for entirely different reasons. While freedom and security in travel are top priorities for women, a car translates into pride in ownership for men.

In addition, there are three basic differences between men and women and these relate to their brains, physical attributes and social behaviour.

“When it comes to the brain, men have better spatial understanding (ability to recognise space) from within their cars than women for whom logic and emotions are mutually related,” Ms Sofue says.

As for physical attributes, the team's inputs showed that women were generally shorter (than men), with weaker muscles especially around the shoulders and arms. “In the process, their driving position/operating behaviour is quite different,” she says.

On the issue of social behaviour, explains Ms Sofue, women opt for high heels with either jeans or skirts in many parts of the world. There are some who are mothers which means a greater sense of security is priority. “These issues become important inputs when engineering a product like a car which is not gender-specific,” she says.

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