It’s no secret that the automotive industry is made up mostly of men. As such, decisions made in programs such as design and engineering may not appeal to women, and the finished product may not be as well done as it could be if there was a little more gender balance. But when it comes to the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, a lady’s input is louder than most.
In the Malibu’s development, no less than four female engineers — all from different departments — were encouraged to use their unique perspective and experience as moms to help improve the 2013 Malibu in areas such as insulation, child safety, and aerodynamics. There’s probably more than four Malibu moms, but the video below would probably be too long if Chevy introduced all of them. And when 80 percent of all car-buying decisions are made by women in the United States, this method makes perfect sense. But when it comes to overall sales demographics, Chevy expects the Malibu to be purchased by an audience that’s 47 percent male.
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seriously no posts yet? I think this is cool.
I’m glad to see that more women are involved at all levels of corporate American, including in the engineering departments at big auto manufacturers. Women do make up half the drivers and in many cases, are the final decision makers in a family car purchase.
There are the rumors that the next CEO of GM may be a woman (Mary Barra). The new CEO of IBM is a woman. The glass ceiling and “good old white boys club” still predominates in the corporate boardrooms, but things are changing slowly.
However, the one thing that women tell me that isn’t mentioned in the video is that there is no place for their purse in most cars. And the women I talk to wouldn’t be caught dead in a minivan and have no need for a large pickup truck.
Center console spaces are getting bigger, some big enough for a woman’s purse, but that list is very short. The big center console space is something you can find in a full-size pickup truck, usually tailored as place for a contractor (usually a man) to stash a laptop or electronic hand tools. Not so much in a passenger car.
If only the car had trunk.
This is a good thing, over the passed 40 years many woman I’ve known prefered import cars because they were desighned for convienient use, and not by “car guys” only with aggressive attitude in mind. It would be nice to see even more Malibu Moms on the road, as the competition loose sight of a chief strength they had enjoyed for two gererations.
In my experience women are the “way more practical sex” don’t fret “Car Guy’s” it will probably be a lady that puts GM automatic transmision leavers back on the steering columb were they belong, and not to be retro, but because it made sense.
Very empowering. If only they would air a shortened version of this on the Hallmark and Lifetime channels. Maybe it would steer people away from those stupid Camrys and Altimas.