Volkswagen Beetle No Longer Holds Top Spot Among Women New Car Buyers; Porsche 911 Still The Most Popular Car Among Men New Car Buyers

TrueCar.com, the authoritative voice in new car pricing and industry trend information, has released its third annual demographic study based on car-buying behavior in 2011, examining gender differences in auto buying. TrueCar.com’s study was based on over eight million retail purchases in 2011.

"While gender preferences amongst the buyers of various automotive brands still exist, the gap is narrowing," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Market Intelligence at TrueCar.com. "The SUV and truck heavy mix of the domestic automakers continue to generate a disproportionate number of male customers, while the exotic brands remain to be the best medicine for a midlife crisis."

Some of the key findings of the TrueCar.com study include:

• The brand with the highest percentage of retail sales to females in 2011 continues to be MINI (46.2 percent), followed by Nissan (45.7 percent), and Kia (45.6 percent) compared to 2010 when MINI (47.9 percent) came in first, followed by Kia and Honda respectively (46.8 percent and 46.0 percent). There were fourteen brands with a female ratio over 40 percent in 2011 and newcomer FIAT landed at 41.9 percent.

• The highest percentage of male buyers primarily purchased exotic brands. This year, only one exotic brand in 2011 with 10 percent or less retail sales to women, Ferrari (7.5 percent) compared to 2010 when there were six brands.

• Sixteen of the top 20 brands in 2011 with the highest percentage of female buyers were import brands, while domestic brand FIAT landed at 12. Chrysler, Buick and Jeep bottomed out the list at 18-20. Only three luxury brands made the top 20, with Lexus (44.2 percent) being the only luxury brand over 40 percent.

• Thirteen of the top 20 brands in 2011 with the highest percentage of male buyers were either exotic or luxury brands. When including luxury brands, nine of the top 20 were domestic. GMC and Dodge brands both had over 70 new car male buyers in 2011.

• The new Volkswagen Beetle, introduced in 2011, had a higher percentage of male buyers in 2011, with 45.4 percent of buyers being male. In 2010, the Volkswagen New Beetle had only 39.4 percent of male buyers.

“Female car buyers really gravitated toward smaller, more fuel-efficient cars,” said Kristen Andersson, Senior Analyst at TrueCar.com. “It was the complete opposite for male buyers, who preferred either a fast, sporty vehicle or more heavy-duty vehicle, like a large truck or SUV.

TrueCar.com also examined the most current market prices and listed discounts for all of the brands and specific models that were tracked with over 1,000 vehicle sales annually. Below are the top ten brands with the highest male and female purchase ratios and their current discount percentages:

Top Female Brand Purchases in 2011 Brand % Female Current Discount

% from MSRP MINI 46.2% 1.7% Nissan 45.7% 6.6% Kia 45.6% 3.6% Honda 45.5% 3.8% Mitsubishi 44.9% 6.1% Mazda 44.3% 5.0% Lexus 44.2% 4.9% Suzuki 44.0% 2.5% Subaru 43.9% 4.5% Hyundai 43.7% 2.6% Volvo 42.5% 5.8% FIAT 41.9% 3.6% Volkswagen 41.6% 3.0% Toyota 40.9% 4.4% smart 39.7% 2.2% Acura 39.4% 5.4% Mercedes-Benz 38.1% 5.7% Chrysler 37.8% 2.9% Buick 37.6% 5.0% Jeep 36.8% 5.1% Top Male Brand Purchases in 2011 Brand % Male Current Discount

% from MSRP Ferrari 92.5% N/A Bentley 83.4% N/A Maserati 82.8% N/A Porsche 76.5% 2.7% Jaguar 73.9% 4.8% GMC 73.5% 2.9% Dodge 72.0% 3.9% Land Rover 71.2% 2.1% Ford 68.6% 8.2% Chevrolet 67.8% 2.9% Audi 67.0% 3.1% BMW 65.1% 5.4% Infiniti 65.1% 5.8% Cadillac 63.9% 2.3% Lincoln 63.8% 7.3% Jeep 63.2% 5.1% Buick 62.4% 5.0% Chrysler 62.2% 2.9% Mercedes-Benz 61.9% 5.7% Acura 60.6% 5.4%

Below are the top ten models that had the highest percentage of male and female buyers (minimum 1,000 retail sales) and their current market discounts from MSRP:

Top Female Purchases in 2011

Makes/Models Makes/Models % Female Current Discount

% from MSRP Volvo S40 57.9% N/A Nissan Rogue 56.9% 2.1% Volkswagen Eos 56.4% 3.9% Volkswagen Beetle 54.6% 1.3% Hyundai Tucson 54.0% 0.9% Honda CR-V 53.4% 1.5% Toyota RAV4 53.0% 2.4% Nissan JUKE 52.7% 0.6% Jeep Compass 52.7% 3.0% Nissan Versa 52.2% 0.1% Nissan Sentra 52.0% 1.8% Lexus IS 51.8% 3.5% Toyota Corolla 51.8% 3.4% Mazda CX-7 51.2% 4.4% Mitsubishi Eclipse 50.9% 1.8% Acura RDX 50.5% 5.5% Infiniti EX 50.4% 5.1% Toyota Yaris 50.4% 0.7% Volkswagen Tiguan 50.3% 3.1% Subaru Forester 50.2% 4.0% Dodge Caliber 50.1% 6.0% Top Male Purchases in 2011

Makes/Models Makes/Models % Male Current Discount

% from MSRP Porsche 911 88.2% 2.7% GMC Sierra 87.5% 7.4% Ford F-Series 87.0% 5.6% Chevrolet Corvette 86.9% 6.9% Chevrolet Silverado 86.4% 7.5% BMW M3 85.1% 3.2% Audi S4 84.7% 3.3% Audi A8 84.4% 3.2% Cadillac Escalade EXT 84.3% 1.9% Maserati Granturismo 84.3% N/A Toyota Tundra 84.1% 2.4% Ram 1500 84.0% 7.2% BMW 550 83.5% 3.8% Toyota Tacoma 82.8% 2.5% Chevrolet Colorado 82.5% 5.0% Chevrolet Avalanche 82.4% 8.2% GMC Canyon 82.4% 6.5% Ram Dakota 82.0% NA Audi A7 81.5% 3.1% Porsche Cayman 81.4% 3.9% BMW 750 81.3% 4.4%

For more information about TrueCar, please visit www.truecar.com. You can follow TrueCar on Twitter (@TrueCar) and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook and Google+.



