Women Centric Mobility Solutions

A female friend of mine jokingly said to me, if you can design a Nano to fit in a budget size of Rupees 1 lakh, why can’t you provide a wardrobe for us in the car? She went ahead and asked me for space behind the driver’s seat to hang her purse, makeup-kit in the dashboard and what not. In short, she was expecting a complete bedroom in her car.  This made me to contemplate, where are these aspirations coming from. Moreover, why were they ignored for so long? This urged me to ponder over a critical segment that was often linked to men, i.e., cars.

Women are gaining momentum in terms of cars, which was seen as a symbol of masculinity so far. However, the gender gap on Indian roads is rapidly decreasing. As with other roles, women in India are taking the wheel in larger numbers—a shift that can be attributed to several factors, including rising education levels and improved career opportunities. Women have further became financially empowered to make critical family decisions. Hence, they are having a say on purchase of cars. In addition, more and more women are purchasing cars for their personal mobility. The trend is noticeable in the metro cities where a car is a more viable option to commute than a two-wheeler. In the previous five years, the percentage of women car buyers have grown to double digits from a mere 5%. Another interesting trend that is visible is that most of the women car buyers are relatively younger and aged below 35 years. In India, Hyundai attributes 15-17% of sales to women drivers. Most of them are from metropolitan cities and belong to small families. These statistics are a revelation for the automobile companies. 

Therefore, automakers are looking to unleash this opportunity and welcome women customers by offering women-friendly features like clutch-less transmission, park assisting rear cameras, fold-able mirrors auto gears, driving training and other exclusive accessories for women. 

However, this is not enough! Women are more practical and see the vehicle as their door to freedom. They give more importance to the aesthetic appeal in terms of colour, design, spaciousness, safety and quality of the vehicle. It is high time when we should be moving towards female exclusive cars, with funky customizable interiors. Females are the ones who keep the house organized, and hence dedicated slots for every basic accessory is what they desire. This will require a deep understanding of female psychology. Car should come with accessories that could be replaced at frequent intervals. This will boost the spare-parts sales. 

The product should be packed with additional post-sales services such as lifetime AMCs and roadside assistance (this will require enhancing the authorized service centers), enhanced service center experience, transparent and smooth system and so on. Additional security features connectivity to the primary emergency contact numbers and GPS connectivity will be an added advantage. I am sure that with female drivers, the probability of a car coming down to the authorized service center is more. Hence, the lifetime revenue for such cars that a company can earn could be much higher than the average revenue. 

Since influence of women in the car buying process is growing, manufacturers should focus on designing and marketing products for the category that was ignored for long, which in way appeals to women. 

‘After all, why should boys have all the fun?’

                                                                          Signing off:-Mr  R.K. Narnoli