More women are buying more cars than ever before according to government statistics.
In 10 years, car ownership amongst women has grown to nearly 10 million, not including company cars and vans.
Whilst men still account for 14.7m private cars in use, that figure has grown just 500,000 in 10 years. Women have bought an additional 1.6m cars.
Nearly 43% of new cars sold privately are now bought by women.
The growth in women car owners is not necessarily younger women taking up the wheel.
According to the National Transport Survey, there was a 20% increase in the number of trips taken by women drivers aged over 50 from 2003 to 2011.
The importance of internet search in the automotive sector has grown dramatically. A Mckinsey & Company report published in February 2014 into the future of car buying outlines how 100% of used car purchases and the majority of new car purchases are made after detailed internet research has been carried out by the prospective buyer.
Jeremy has been a journalist for 30 years, 20 of which have been in business-to-business automotive. He was a writer and news editor on AM-sister brand Fleet News for three years before setting up the AM website. For the last five years he has been Bauer B2B’s head of digital helping to manage the digital assets of AM, together with Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail and Smart Transport.
Steph Savill - 01/05/2014 12:43
Well worth noting (better late than never) that the number of female registered keepers of cars has increased by 72% since 1994. Source: DfT Vehicle Licensing Stats 2013.