In China, automakers have marketed EVs to women with an approach almost unheard of in the United States. In May 2022, Great Wall Motors released the Ora EV. Shaped like a Volkswagen Beetle, it includes a “Lady Driving Mode” with voice-controlled parking and reversing, and an automatic cruise control that maintains extra distance between vehicles ahead of it. It also features “Warm Man Mode” — one click turns up the heat and adjusts air conditioning — to cater to women who are menstruating.
U.S. automakers are not averse to catering to women, though attempts to make female-first products have not fared well.
In 2003, Volvo debuted the YCC, a car designed by and for women. It never made it to production, but some of its features, such as purse storage and computer-assisted parking, did trickle into Volvo’s U.S. offerings. Saturn launched a web series called “Novel Adventures” that featured four women in a book club interacting with a different Saturn in every episode. GM discontinued the Saturn brand two years later.
As for EVs, commercials for Ford, Audi and Cadillac have featured women prominently, but these are in the minority. One study sug-gested women prioritize environ-mental friendliness and safety more than men, but domestic marketing rarely em-phasizes these aspects of EVs — nor their relatively affordable cost of ownership over the vehicle’s lifetime.
It’s no wonder that 75 percent of women report feeling misunder- stood by car marketers.
