Volkswagen New Beetle still number one with the ladies

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:31:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Budget, Etc., Hatchback, Volkswagen

Volkswagen New Beetle - Click above for high-res image gallery

Men, take note: According to a new survey from research firm TrueCar, the Volkswagen New Beetle is (still) the ultimate car for women. Apparently, its combination of cute-as-a-button looks and affordable pricing make the reborn Bug a total hit with the fairer sex.

This data was determined not by some silly woman-on-the-street clipboard survey, but rather by looking at the registrations of more than 13 million vehicles over the past two years. We could have saved them quite a bit of work if they wanted to know that the New Beetle was a chick car, but whatever. There was some other interesting info gleaned from the research, including the revelation that 64% of all cars are registered by men despite the fact that there are more women (at 51% of the population, just a tad) than men in America.

Rounding out the top five vehicles that scored well with the mono-chromosomed gender were the Nissan Rogue, Hyundai Tucson, (saw this one coming) Volkswagen Eos and Volvo S40.

Gallery: 2009 Volkswagen New Beetle

[Source: The Wall Street Journal]

Volkswagen New Beetle still number one with the ladies originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Subaru Stella has Japanese housewives and moms in mind

Alex Nunez — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:03:00 EST

Filed under: Budget, Wagon, Etc., Japan, Marketing/Advertising, Hatchback, Subaru

Subaru of Japan has just introduced a functional little niche vehicle called the Stella, which is based on the same architecture as the also-domestic-only R2. There are two variants: Stella and Stella Custom, and for each model there are a pair of available trim levels. For the Stella, they are L and LX, and for Stella Custom, they're R and RS. All four get Subaru's 658cc EN07 DOHC 4-cylinder with AVCS variable valve timing. Likewise, all can be had with either FWD or AWD, and shifting is handled by the company's i-CVT transmission. L, LX, and R cars make 54 horses, and the supercharged RS pushes out 64 horses. Those power numbers will seem horrifyingly anemic to most readers but in Japan, it's not uncommon at all to see small, city-sized cars with double-digit horsepower. They get the job done, and sip gas to the tune of 52 mpg (FWD) along the way.

Interestingly, the Stella is targeted squarely at women-- young housewives and moms in particular -- and Subaru has high hopes for it. Their sales target is 5,000 cars a month.

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Subaru Stella has Japanese housewives and moms in mind originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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