Men Love Ferrari, Women Love MINI (GM, F, TM, HMC, NSANY, KIMTF, MZDAF, SZKMF)

Car sales by gender in 2011 pretty much reflect what you’d expect. Men prefer fast cars and big SUVs and pickup trucks. Women favor smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles. Men buy 92.5% of all Ferraris sold and women buy 46.2% of all MINIs sold. The results come from data collected by truecar.com from sales of more than 8 million cars.

The male preference for SUVs and light trucks gives a boost to US carmakers like General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), while female preferences show up in sales of cars made by Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), Honda Motor Corp. (NYSE: HMC), Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (OTC: NSANY.PK), Kia Motors Corp. (OTC: KIMTF.PK), Mazda Motor Corp. (OTC: MZDAF.PK), Suzuki Motor Corp. (OTC: SZKMF), Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai.

The data from truecar is reported by brand sales and model sales. For example, men purchase 88.2% of all Porsche 911s sold and women purchase 57.9% of all Volvo S40s. Men purchase 87.5% of all GMC Sierra pickups and 87% of all Ford F-Series pickups sold. The most popular SUV among women buyers is the Nissan Rogue, nearly 57% of which are purchased by women.

Of the top 20 brands purchased by women, 16 were imports, and of the top 20 brands purchased by men, 13 were either exotic or luxury brands.

The press release from truecar.com is available here.

Paul Ausick