SUVs Now Most Popular Vehicle With Women

SUVs Now Most Popular Vehicle With Women

Women shopping for a new car or truck now favor sport utility vehicles over any other type of vehicle, according to a R.L. Polk & Co. study. Sport utilities have been the favorite among male new vehicle buyers since 2000, when pickup trucks were ousted as the top contender.

But SUVs are now the No. 1 choice for female new vehicle buyers for the first time, claiming 23.9 percent of the women’s market, according to the study. Mid-size cars came in a close second with female buyers, accounting for 23.2 percent of the market. Twenty-five percent of new vehicle sales to men were sales of SUVs, while pickups attracted 21 percent of male new buyers. The results came after a nationwide January to October 2001 analysis of new vehicle registrations, R.L. Polk said.

Silver, White, Red Top Car Colors

Nineteen percent of North American new-car buyers purchased silver vehicles last year, replacing white as the most popular color, according to a recently released study by PPG Industries Inc. of Pittsburgh, which manufactures vehicle coatings. Sixteen percent of vehicles purchased were white, 15 percent were red, 11 percent were blue and 10 percent were green, according to the study. Green was the most popular color from 1994 to 1998, when more than one of every five car buyers chose that hue. The neutral family of colors champagne, gold and lighter shades of brown stayed the same as last year, accounting for 14 percent of new-vehicle purchases. Though silver was most popular on mid-size, sport and compact cars and sport utility vehicles and vans, natural colors were more popular on luxury cars, and red was the most popular color for trucks.