How did Helene Rother’s journey begin?

Born in 1908 in Leipzig, Germany, Helene was brought up in an environment that was constantly under war threat. Germany and France, where she later lived, became battlegrounds for the World Wars. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine her childhood and teenage years resembling a rollercoaster with sharp ups and downs.

Yet, she managed to study art in Germany and then worked as a jewelry designer in Paris, before World War II. During this time, she gave birth to her daughter and formed her little family. However, as I mentioned in the beginning, there were times of danger and uncertainty.

Soon enough, she had to flee from Nazi-occupied France to North Africa. It was very hard for her and her seven-year-old daughter to travel to the US right away without a visa. However, somehow she got lucky and embarked on a ship to the United States.

Going through all these hurdles ever since she was young, then traveling across three continents with a child, shows her resilience and determination to thrive. A new chapter began for her in the US where she would make history as an automotive designer.

What made Helene Rother successful in the male-dominated auto industry?

Helene was an able professional, a beautiful woman, and a great mother who did not have an easy start in the U.S. After all, she was a refugee, and most importantly, a woman. Yet, her design skills found application in art, jewelry production, marketing, and even book illustrating. It was by chance that she came across a General Motors interior designer vacancy ad. Though Helene did not have any experience in the industry, she applied and got the job.

Interior design was an area that was just taking off in the auto industry, as people were seeking more comfort and luxury in their cars. No wonder, Helene was the first woman doing this job in Detroit, as the damsels of design were growing in number. To everyone’s surprise, she became quite good at it and soon was one of the best paid General Motors employees. Such a high salary for a woman was so unusual, that it even made headlines in The Detroit News.

But the attention and media scrutiny did not stop her. She continued gaining expertise in the industry and doing research work. She was the first woman to speak at the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit. Her paper titled “Are we doing a good job in our car interiors?” was highly praised. Soon enough, her work was getting awards such as the Jackson Medal.

How did the entrepreneurial career unfold for Ms. Rother?

As Helene had gained a reputation for high-quality car interior design at GM, other automotive companies started contracting her as a design consultant. Realizing that she could be her own boss, Helene opened her own studio named Helene Rother Associates.

Her designs for Nash Ramblers became famous, and her name was part of all advertisements. She turned to be a symbol of European influence on American automobile designs. She did not just design car interiors, though. Her style was also present in the stained glass of many reconstructed American churches. Expanding her work, communicating with clients like a true businesswoman, without losing quality and creativity were remarkable qualities of Helene.

What differentiated Helene Rother’s work?

Cars shouldn’t just take a person from point A to point B. They should also offer comfort and a pleasant experience for the driver. This is what Helene understood very early on. She saw the potential of interior car design as adding value to the car and ultimately giving the auto companies a competitive advantage. From a simple and basic design, she brought style, elegance, and uniqueness to each of the cars she designed. People loved buying cars that had her name as an interior designer.

As technology advanced, more high-quality materials could be nicely incorporated into vehicles, adding to their charm. The ambition to strive for more quality and more elegance, adding a modern contemporaneous touch to the dull vehicles made Helene unique.

She was a true trailblazer in the design world and her work has been acknowledged throughout the years. Lastly, in 2020 the Automotive Hall of Fame inducted her, along with other professionals who have contributed to the automotive sector. Helene Rother remains a role model for so many women who are seeking to unleash their potential and strive in male-dominated industries.

What about your car? Have you checked who designed its interior? I bet now you are curious to find out whether your car is designed by a woman. Let us know!

Image: Automotive Hall of Fame

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The very first auto ad

Just like the first advertisement for any invention that has ever happened, the first automobile ads were very product-focused. They simply sold the benefits of owning a car instead of a horse.

The very first auto ad appeared in 1898 in an Ohio newspaper. Not any newspaper but the Scientific American itself. The very same Scientific American would eventually detail the work of Einstein.

The title of the pilot auto ad was quite on spot in terms of marketing, too. It included the call to action “Dispense with a horse” and the copy of the ad talked about the benefits of the Winton Motor Carriage. Not as costly to maintain, no odor, and the speed of up to 20 mph. No horse would ever be so powerful. Simple.

The first automobile ad is also known for its effectiveness. The advertisement definitely worked because Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, bought a Winton after seeing the ad in Scientific American.

Later in the year, Winton Motor Carriage sold another 21 vehicles. One of those vehicles was sold to James Ward Packard. The one who later founded his own car company. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last true Packard in 1956, when the company built the Packard Predictor, its last concept car. We wish all ads today had such staggering effects on any industry.

The beginning of auto advertising

Similarly to the first microwaves, the first dishwasher, or the first pair of tights – the first car was a sensation of its own! Automakers didn’t need a unique creative approach for their ads because they had a unique product. Something that doesn’t happen so often today. This is why the first ads were quite straightforward. Black & white paper ads. Of course, with a hint of humor.

This simplicity, however, did not last long. With the beginning of the 20^th century and the increasing penetration of automobiles, manufacturers needed to stand out. This is why they turned to advertisement agencies. Car ads became brighter and more colorful. Even in the ’30s, when America was struggling with The Depression, car ads remained the bright spot in the dark papers. At that time cars were still a luxury, so it was logical that they would target those who were not greatly affected by hard financial times.

A trophy for the wealthy

The early 20^th century saw the glamour of auto advertising. At that time cars were still fighting for road space with other means of transport, as well as very few people could afford them. The automobiles were heavy machines that usually required at least one mechanic to operate and maintain the car. This is why most ads were targeted at the wealthiest of society.

One of the groups that ads appealed to were the partygoers. Those who would want a car to make a noticeable entrance to the next glamorous event. Or even to their chauffeurs – the ones who would have to deal with tires and lubrication, which is why they needed a reliable vehicle. Auto advertising was very strategically oriented even from its start.

Think Small

You can see that the car has always been a status symbol for Americans by simply looking at the evolution of its advertising. Big cars, golden colors, beautiful women and animal print – all attributes to the car owner of the early 20^th century.

The first ad that disrupted this all-American image was the Think Small ad by Volkswagen. The company advertised its Beetle model – a car that was the exact opposite of the big, heavy American vehicles.

The goal of the ad was to increase the sales of the small car which struggled to penetrate the American market.

The creative approach was the opposite of all car ads from that period. While other ads provided detailed information about the car and its characteristics, the Beetle ad was rather minimalistic. It brought viewers’ attention to the exact thing that was considered problematic – the Beetle’s form – and turned it into an advantage. Simple, yet so smart.

The Think Small campaign was created by the DDB Agency and became one of the most famous ads ever. It earned the title of the best advertising campaign of the twentieth century by Ad Age, in a survey of North American advertisements.

Brightness & Spotlights

Even though this was still the era of muscle cars, European vehicles had started to get more attention as well. Mostly thanks to the creative approach to advertising. The Think Small campaign created a new trend. It brought photography in, and artwork was left behind in the first half of the century. Clever lighting and trick exposures replaced the artist’s pen.

Towards the second half of the 20^th century, car advertising was already a professional area for photographers. The first studio photoshoots took place in the 1980s and showed a completely new side of cars. One full of elegance and style. These were the years in which automobile ads reached their peak in numbers. There were cases when one magazine would feature between twenty and twenty-five car ads in one issue.

The 90s car tech

In the 1990s, most car ads were promoting the technology that you could find in vehicles, describing certain innovations.

One of the most famous ads of this decade was done by Honda. It was then when the brand introduced its VTEC system. This is why they put together a 24 Hours of Le Mans-themed ad in which people could listen to that engine’s wail all day. Quite creative for those times.

It seems like the 90s were the time when marketers realized that each needed to occupy a unique territory with their brand. They started building it from the product – showing the unique in what had already become a commodity.

The 90s saw the introduction of stricter regulations in vehicle safety for the first time. This led many brands to include safety as a big part of their narrative, too.

The Range Rover 4WD, for example, issued an ad with a horrifying image of a stop sign. The ad focused on the vehicle’s anti-lock brake system that “enables you to maintain steering and control in anything from a downpour to a blizzard.” It proclaimed that there was only one car that could save drivers from danger and it was the Range Rover.

Car advertising today

Today, it’s quite hard for an automobile ad to grab people’s attention. It feels like we have seen it all. Or we simply don’t care. Even though we buy cars much more often than in the past, the purchase of an automobile is still a rather big decision. This is why advertising has to be both clever and truthful to have an effect on the buyer. Sometimes a crazier approach might be successful, too. Such is the case with Audi and BMW – one of the most remembered ad wars in the history of auto advertising.

It all started back in 2012 when BMW placed a billboard promoting its 35th MOA Rally (Chess Tournament) in California. The billboard said “A BMW Rally with two nearby service centers. What’s next, paramedics at a chess tournament?” Audi advertisers then decided they could not keep quiet and replied with a billboard nearby with the following caption: “Chess? No Thanks, I’d rather be driving.”

And it was right then when the war broke out. A series of exchanges between the two auto leaders followed. In no time this ad war grabbed the public attention all over the world. Brands like Subaru and Bentley also tried to join the conversation. Nowhere near as successfully. The war ended when BMW brought in a branded blimp featuring its Formula 1 car. We cannot say how many car sales this resulted in, but it surely increased brand visibility and brand image of both brands.

Issues in auto ads over the years

You won’t be surprised to see that the automobile ad world did not lack problems and discrepancies. This is a sensitive category because of safety and the idea of status. Yet, it seems like the most disturbing issues are related to the image of females. Women are at the center of the scandal once again. Of course, sarcastically speaking.

What do women get?

Automobile advertising has traditionally focused on male drivers. There were only a few occasions where car ads targeted women. The first of them was the time during World War II. Most manufacturers had to redirect their production to satisfy the needs of the army. With so many men gone to war, there weren’t many left to show ads to. During the post-World War era, there was an economic increase and more women entered the workforce. This is why they could now afford a car of their own.

Along with the cars came the feelings of freedom, mobility, and endless power. Some of the topics that would soon be used by advertisers to increase female buying. Such ads became the first occasion-based advertisements in the industry. Minivans, for example, became the vehicles for female housewives. The ads showed that they were spacious, safe, and ideal for shopping.

Sex Sells

This, however, soon became a problem. While some women were glad someone offered cars especially for them, others saw the dark side of car advertising. The advertising that uses the stereotypical image of females.

The automobile industry is one of the main product categories that rely on sex appeal in their ads. This trend began in the 20^th century when the competition started growing. This is why you could see ads that showed quite a disturbing image of women.

A number of advertisements repeating trends where:

• women are objects that male car buyers want to accumulate;
• women are accessories that make cars appear more attractive to male car shoppers;
• they are seen as helpless and entirely unaware of how the entire car-buying experience works;
• and women serve the primary role of minivan-driving mothers.

This approach to advertising is an easy route to follow because it’s close to human nature. Yet, it doesn’t always work. Especially today, when we talk more openly about discrimination, it becomes really hard for such ads to remain unnoticed and uncriticized.

Top auto advertisers in the USA

The USA is a global leader in the advertising industry. Over the years, automobile manufacturers have scored highly on the list of highest-spending advertisers in the U.S. Even though they are not the only players in the automobile industry, their ad spending is quite spectacular.

In the past years, automobile advertising has shifted from TV formats to digital formats. Digital platforms today are the most rapidly growing channel for auto ads. According to Statista, the automobile industry has the third-largest digital advertising revenue in the country within major industries. The digital ad revenue in the U.S. automotive sector is expected to grow to about 5.3 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.

Which are the brands willing to spend all that money? It turns out the largest ad spender on the U.S. market among automakers is Volkswagen. In 2015, Volkswagen Group invested over 6.6 million U.S. dollars in advertising in 2015. Surprised? Maybe you shouldn’t be. After all the Volkswagen Group controls a broad portfolio of automobile brands. It includes VW itself, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche. These are some of the most popular car brands in the world. And each one requires its own resources to maintain its brand image.

The ad spenders which occupy the next positions in the ranking are General Motors and Daimler. Each of the groups spent about 5 million dollars on advertising in 2015. Right behind them, we can see Ford – with 4.3 million – and Toyota Motor Corporation – with 4.1 million U.S. dollars in advertising activities in 2015.

If we sum these numbers up, we will see that the top five automakers spent about 25 million U.S. dollars on ads. In a single calendar year. Looking back to 1898 and the Winton Motor Carriage ad, it feels like the industry has gone quite a long way. A little over a century, hundreds of different auto brands and billions of dollars to make people buy them. If only we knew what one black-and-white paper ad would lead to…

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Where’re the girls at?

Historically, the automotive world has been male-dominated. However you look at it, men have been leading the market as they engineer, design, race, and repair the cars that we all drive every day.

Where are the women then? In the past, women were at home. But today, they are everywhere men used to be.

Since 2012, women hold more driver’s licenses than men. They drive more than 50% of automakers’ sales in the country. They are the influencers behind 80% of the auto purchases.

In 2018, only 16 women (8%) were executives in the top 20 motor vehicles and parts companies in the Fortune Global 500. Yet, we must say this is an improvement from the year before and the one before that.

So, here’s to the ladies that are engineering, designing, racing, and repairing the automotive future. The ones who build a strong female presence in the world of cars.

Mary Barra – General Motors, CEO

Her life is a true example of a person born with a purpose. She has spent most of her life being part of General Motors and is now writing history. According to Forbes, Mary Barra “has made decisions other GM leaders never dared” and has so far accomplished more than what others couldn’t do in more than 30 years.

In 2014, she became the first female CEO of a leading global automaker. And she has been running the company quite successfully ever since. Only three years later Fortune Magazine announced her as one of the most powerful women in business.

The appointment of Mary Barra marked a new beginning for GM in terms of gender equality as well. One, where executive women leaders are the norm. Since 2014, the company has welcomed a few more women at the top level.

In 2017, Alicia Boler Davis was appointed to the position of the executive vice president, Global Manufacturing. And in 2018, Dhivya Suryadevara took the position of Chief Financial Officer(CFO). Way to go, GM!

Michelle Christensen – Former Lead Design Manager at Honda

Often, when you think of women and design, you think of the interior. Home decor most of all. Yet, this lady proves that women can do much more than the insides. Moreover, she does the exterior of a supercar!

Michelle Christensen is the first woman to lead a supercar design team. While working as a Lead Design Manager at Honda, she has led the design work on models like the Acura ZDX and RDX, Acura RL and RLX, and Honda NSX second generation.

Until now, high-end, high-performance supercars have only been built and marketed toward wealthy, adrenaline-seeking men. The look and feel of the NSX were not only managed by a woman — it’s made for a woman to enjoy driving, too. And this model exists thanks to this woman who took night school classes in car design. Persistence and strong will have always been female superpowers.

When Michelle talks about the beginning of her love for cars, she remembers watching her dad rebuild a 1967 hemi GTX. Where’s the man who can say that about his childhood?

Danica Patrick – professional racing driver

We can’t stop talking about Danica’s strong presence. One of the most widely known female racers. She joined Nascar in 2010 after being an IndyCar racer for some years. She is known for her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 race – the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race. This made her the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing.

Apart from her notorious wins, she is known for her brave choices. In order to pursue her dream of racing, she made a radical decision early in her life. She decided to quit high school. A choice that made her even more disciplined in following her passion.

Even though she retired from racing in 2017, Danica continues to inspire many young girls to go after their wishes, to try out new things and to be proud of being who they are as women.

Linda Hasenfratz – Linamar, CEO

Let’s start with the fact that she is Canadian. That should already say a lot about how tough she is. Besides that, however, she is the CEO of Linamar Corporation – a global manufacturing company of highly engineered products powering vehicles and motion as a whole.

She succeeded her father as the CEO of Linamar, but she has worked in the field for quite sometime before that. Linda started as a machine operator in 1990 and 12 years later, she became the CEO.

Since then she has achieved double-digit growth for the company year after year. In 2014, Linda was named EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year and became the first woman ever to hold the title.

In addition to providing spectacular business results, she has made community involvement a big part of the corporate culture at Linamar. She has been preaching on the need for green technologies and the role of women in science and business. Vision, financial success, AND social responsibility – she’s got all the criteria for a great leader covered. A tough Canadian, as we already said.

Once upon a time…

Now thanks to the changing media landscape, we hear more about female achievements in the auto world. Yet, in the past, news traveled slowly. And even worse – there weren’t that many female leaders in the car world to talk about.

Despite the generally low representation of females in the industry in the past, few have stood out and made an impact even before gender equality became such a hot topic. These women have done a lot to challenge the status quo and make a change in the automotive world. The strong female figures today would not have existed if these women had not stood up for their passion in the auto world.

The one that started the engine

It will be disrespectful to all women in the industry if we omit this lady from our list – Bertha Benz. Her visionary forward-thinking got her to believe in her husband’s dream, and she invested all her money in his company. While she was supporting Carl in his efforts to get his prototype going, she was also taking care of 5 kids. Calmly and patiently.

And one day she took the Benz prototype on a long-trip which eventually proved its worth. In 1988, she took two of her sons and, without her husband’s knowledge, put the motor car in motion, and drove to Pforzheim. A brave attempt that gathered media attention and got the company going. Which we can admit, makes her quite a successful marketer as well.

The ones who built the cars

When we talk about actually building cars, let’s take a moment to appreciate these women. We should thank each of them for our comfort behind the wheels today.  

Mary Anderson and Charlotte Bridgwood, the mothers of the windshield wipers. In 1903, Mary Anderson invented the manual wiper. Fourteen years later Ms. Bridgwood took the design and upgraded it to its automated version which we know today. Before then people had to drive with their window shields unprotected from rain. Imagine that in the middle of rainy Florida.

And imagine you have no brake and turn signals on such a day. Thanks to Florence Lawrence, this is not an issue today. Even though she is famous for her movie career, Florence’s biggest passion was automobiles. Since she was one of the few women who could afford to own car at that time, she started exploring her car and its safety features. In 1914, she invented the first mechanical turn signal and mechanical brake signal.

None of these ladies, however, protected their inventions, so very soon after, some of the big automobile brands started producing their inventions without giving them credit. Little did they know that this would not stop people from giving them praise even a century later.

The one that pressed the gas pedal

Talking about racing – we should not forget Janet Gutrie. Now 81, she is a retired professional race car driver and the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. Before her career in racing, she earned a degree in physics and her license as an aerospace engineer. Guthrie’s notable achievements got her included in the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.

In 2015, Danica Patrick bested Janet Guthrie’s record for the most top-ten finishes by a woman in the Sprint Cup Series. A great reminder that even across generations, women in the auto world share the same drive – to become better at their passion. No matter what men would say.

In old times, female achievements were quite accidental. Not because women lacked knowledge and skills, or because they didn’t deserve credit but simply because they were women. As a result of their very often silent efforts, we can now see more respect for females in the industry as a whole.

There are more opportunities for women, more appreciation for their knowledge and more appointments of female executives. Let this serve us as a reminder that all we experience today is a consequence of a lady’s achievement in the past. And a trampoline for some other young woman somewhere in the future.

So let’s celebrate the women who are our role models in the auto world – across time and space.

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Women vs Men on the EV battlefield

Experts from the University of Sussex and Aarhus University in Denmark conducted a study on the perceptions of electric vehicles and the way they differ based on gender, age, occupation, and education. The study found that people’s choice of vehicle is still largely affected by their gender.

Men, traditionally, give more importance to speed and acceleration, as well as design, when choosing a car. As per the study results, men, 30-45 years old, who have higher levels of education and work in the not-for-profit sector or academia, are currently more than twice as likely to own electric cars as women.

The reason for their choice is exactly the higher acceleration of particular EV models. Boys and their toys. And before you say that this only confirms stereotypical beliefs, let’s see what it means for the market of electric vehicles.

Since men compare vehicles in terms of acceleration and design, EVs compete with all other cars. And while the early years of EVs were male-dominated, today this is not so much the case. Women hold more potential as the perfect EV target consumer.

Why? Because women don’t care only about safety and ease of operation, as one might expect. In fact, highly educated women put more importance on factors that affect running costs and environmental impact. This momentarily makes EVs a great fit for their preferences.

Should we even be surprised by this? After all, women have been in it from the start…

The first women with EVs

EVs have been associated with women ever since the beginning of the 20^th century when the electric vehicle became a means to freedom for women. To men, the EVs were limiting. They preferred heavier and long-lasting vehicles. But they found them perfect for their wives and daughters.

Virginia Scharff, a historian at the University New Mexico says “It’s an understanding of a vehicle from the point of view from someone who can accept restrictions on their mobility (…) The distinguishing characteristic of femininity is staying in your place.”

Even then EVs were marketed mainly to women. They were introduced as “sitting rooms on wheels” where one could sit quietly and enjoy the ride. Even dealerships were organized as tea rooms for women to learn about the new vehicles.

At that time manufacturers designed the EVs in a way that allowed driving from the front and from the back seat. Some women hired chauffeurs, while the more independent spirits immediately jumped behind the wheel.

Surprisingly, even the first gasoline carmakers bought electric vehicles for their wives. Clara Ford, Henry Ford’s wife, received a Detroit Electric in 1908. Soon afterward, Mr.Ford introduced his Model T, the car that brought travel opportunities to middle-class America.

The Beginning of EVs

Some might think electric vehicles are the innovation of the 21^st century. The reality is that they have existed ever since the early 19^th century. History shows that Americans have been building fleets of EVs to replace horse-drawn carriages in big cities. At the turn of the 20^th century, the Electric Vehicle Company was the largest carmaker in the United States. It was also the biggest owner of cars in the country.

In 1897, New York enjoyed its first electric cab, and the following year Ferdinand Porsche built one of the world’s first hybrid electric vehicles, the P1. Back then there wasn’t a single technology that dominated the market. An 1899 US Census shows that total automobile production that year included 1,575 electric vehicles, 1,681 steam-powered, and 936 burning gasoline. People selected a vehicle based on the tasks they needed to do.

At the start of the 20^th century, EVs were seen as the perfect urban automobiles: moderately paced, clean, and powered to a 30-mile range on a single charge. These characteristics are exactly what made EVs attractive for men buying them for their wives or daughters.  By 1915, the number of EVs sold had reached about 37,000 vehicles, a third of them were commercial trucks.

What about today?

Nowadays, people keep saying that EVs remain only 1% of car sales in the USA. But is this true? It probably was a few years ago.  According to the tracking website Inside EVs, the total number of vehicles sold in 2018 was 361,307, which is an increase of 81% from the previous year.

The main driver for this growth was Tesla. According to the same report, Tesla’s Model 3 sold 139,782 vehicles that year. In fact, it was the 11^th best selling car in the USA in 2018. In 2019, it is already taking Europe, and particularly the Netherlands, by storm.

The rest of 2019 is not going to be all about Tesla, though. There are already a few new mass-market EVs available with over 200 miles of electric range.  They even come with female-targeted names. Like Renault’s Zoe. At the same time, brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Jaguar, and Audi are launching their own high-performance electric cars and putting real pressure on Tesla for the first time.

And how about tomorrow? Tomorrow lies behind a big question mark:

Is the EV future really female?

It turns out women’s current driving behavior is quite suitable for electric vehicles. Most importantly – on average, women drive fewer kilometers per day than men. EVs smaller range is suitable for city trips and running errands.

But how about the moment of really buying a car? Female consumers are responsible for 62% of new vehicle purchases and service done at dealerships in the United States. Thus, they are a huge buying power in the industry already. Moreover, women make up almost half of the U.S. labor force. There are over 1.4 million more women than men who have a drivers’ license. Huge potential. But can electric vehicles make use of that potential?

Money, money, money

Since women are more aware of costs and don’t like car shopping so much, they expect to pay less for their next car. Could EVs really match the price expectations women have? EVs might cost more than their gasoline or diesel counterparts today, but that gap is narrowing. The latest research by analysts at Deloitte UK suggests that price parity with internal combustion cars is likely by 2021.

Another thing to keep in mind is that women may choose EVs and sign the deal, but who is the car for? Automakers cannot always know who the driver is once the car leaves the dealership. Constant research is necessary to see who the real consumer is.

The Family-car Monster

Women care for the family and they evaluate most big purchases with family interests in mind. But as of today, EVs are not the typical family car. Currently, electric vehicles have an image problem – they are not the typical big car that screams status and welfare. We have no doubts that the future of your children is more important than how everyone around sees your family. Yet, we have doubts about the marketing strategy of EV manufacturers.

The conventional car brands have built up an image of stability and security over hundreds of years. Now can the EVs replace this territory in the female mind so quickly? While they may not seem like a great family car just yet, EVs certainly make a great second car. A personal vehicle for the busy city woman.

The Biggest Enemy

Whether they aim at men or women, electric vehicles will have one main challenge: to conquer the habit. EVs require a behavioral adjustment to adapt to the different restrictions of an electric vehicle such as its range and availability of charging stations. And that is a completely new routine one needs to fit in their daily routine. Well, we all know women more adaptive.

The Way to Go

The only way to get the maximum from electric vehicles is to pay attention to male and female needs separately. Market growth can be increased by targeting the exact specifics and interest differences of each gender. If 85% of car buying decisions are influenced by women, just give them what they want!

For example, we know that women have less experience and knowledge about EVs. In studies, they are more likely to answer “I don’t know” to questions about this type of vehicles. They are more likely to need additional information and ask for it. Thus, marketers need to make this information easily accessible.  Correction. They need to offer it to women before they have realized they want to know it.

Automakers need to create more direct links between the things that concern women and the features of their electric vehicles. Simply driving a smooth and quiet electric vehicle is not enough. Women want to know they are driving a vehicle that does not harm the environment.

The EV is their instrument to protect the present and to build a better future. And aren’t these the exact things that women want from a man as well? A man who keeps them safe today and makes them feel good about their future together. Well, here he comes with his EV. And step by step, you have walked the way to turning EVs into perfect family cars…

The post Women hold the keys to the future of EVs appeared first on Altered Steel.

Women are highly appreciated for their soft touch and gentleness. Despite the fact that there are more and more men entering fields that require these skills, women are still the queens.

So today we will honor that. In this post, we won’t focus too much on mechanics or engineering. Instead, we’ll look at the automotive industry through the perspective of design. Female design.

GM’s first all-female team

When you start researching pioneering female designers, you will immediately come across a group of women from the 1950s that earned the name the Damsels of Design.

This was the first team of all-female designers hired by General Motors. Just like most cases from those times, this one also begins with a man. Harley J. Earl. That’s why we prefer talking about the Damsels under the code name “Harley’s Angels”.

Harley J. Earl was the vice-president of GM’s design department which at that time carried a name of the Styling Section. He is remembered for his brave strategic contributions to GM’s development. Earl introduced a number of new design strategies, including concept cars and the idea of annual model updates to uphold consumer demand.

He first introduced female designers to his department back in the ’40s and ’50s, believing they could help make automobiles that appealed to female consumers. Why would he do that you may wonder?

Earl gave a rather smart business explanation in a press release in 1958. There, he explained that women have the final vote in three out of four automobile purchases. At that time families were just starting the trend of buying a second car. Moreover, women were often the drivers.

Why ignore their opinion then? Neglect them and you are likely to lose 75% of your market.

Instead, he launched a program on integrating women in the automaking process itself. His initiative started by him sending an official recruiter to Pratt Institute in New York to hand-select a special group of designers. The designers were all women, nine in total. Six would go to various GM vehicle divisions, and three would go to GM’s appliance division.

• Suzanne Vanderbilt
• Ruth Glennie
• Margaret (Peg) Sauer
• Marjorie Ford Pohlman
• Jeanette Linder,
• Sandra Longyear
• Gere Kavanaugh
• Jan Krebs
• Dagmar Arnold
• Jayne Van Alstyne

Earl called them his ‘Damsels in Design’. The group that wanted to be treated as equal members of the extensive team of studio designers.

Being a Damsel at GM

The group of women selected from Pratt all had interesting backgrounds. Each of them had some fine art and industrial design training, and a few had worked for manufacturers in other fields. Yet, none of them had ever worked in automotive design before. And some did not even own a car. Others had never traveled beyond the East Coast.

One of the newly hired designers was Jeanette Linder – a young woman who had recently married another GM designer – Peter Linder. The couple gathered media’s attention exactly because of their reversed roles. While Peter would go design refrigerators, Jeanette would work on the design team for Chevrolet. The Linders were featured in Look magazine, unpacking boxes in their tiny apartment and preparing to go to work at GM.

The other, single, Damsels were a little more hesitant to start working at GM. Not because of the new job, but because of the fact that they had to go all the way to distant Detroit.

Yet, the GM opportunity seemed too good to pass up, so the women moved to Michigan, most sharing rooms and meals together, at least initially. In the studios, the women were often treated as curiosities, but generally (though not always) with respect.

The fact that Harley J. Earl was surrounded by so many beautiful women, soon earned a name in the automotive industry. Yet, despite Earl’s well-deserved reputation as a ladies’ man, he was always respectful of his design team.

Suzanne Vanderbilt, one of the Damsels, later recalled: “Harley Earl… was a gentleman, in spite of stories that you hear. He was always a gentleman with the women. More a father figure, maybe, than boss, and commanded – as I said before – a great deal of respect.”

The work of the Damsels

Much of the team’s work was on interiors of various GM cars. None were assigned exterior design roles. But their work went far beyond fabric selection and color swatches.

Many worked on advanced projects, including secret research into technologies and interior improvements, including safety innovations that would become an important part of the automotive design in the decades to come.

The 1958 show

In 1958, Earl decided to host a Feminine Show. The purpose of the Show was to expose the design talents of his Damsels to all others in the company. This is why the show took place in the General Motors Styling Dome on the Warren, Michigan campus, where GM executives and company representatives from all over the country could fly in to see the talented work.

The area where the Show took place was decorated by Damsel Gere Kavanaugh with great fabric streamers and circular display areas ringed by potted flowers and trees. In the center of the Dome, three full-height fabric cylinders were filled with a hundred chirping parakeets.

The Damsels were given at least one car each to redesign – 10 in total. Much of the work shown was color and trim selection, but each one included some interesting technical innovations. One of the most noticeable designs was the one done by Ruth Glennie. Her task was to redesign a Corvette.

At that time GM, along with other manufacturers, had signed a pledge to limit horsepower and stay out of sponsored racing activities, so the Corvette program was on life support. Some of the people at GM wanted to retire the car. Yet, Earl wanted to see what could a woman do to make it live.

The Fancy Free and more

Glennie’s Corvette, a convertible, was named the ‘Fancy Free’, a name meant to evoke the freedom and joie de vivre of leisure travel. She kept the form, as instructed, but painted it in a single tone, a silver-olive color – what turned out to be a great choice. The metallic sheen looked rather golden in the sunlight, and on cloudy days it seemed to be a soft silver.

Glennie thought the Corvette might be a car one could customize for each season, and so she designed a set of three seat covers for each season that covered the standard olive-colored leather.

The other Damsels were more considered of female needs in their designs.

• Sauer redesigned an Oldsmobile Fiesta Carousel. It featured a child-friendly backseat which included storage for toys, a magnetic game board and child-proof latches that could be controlled from the dashboard.
• Vanderbilt redesigned a Cadillac Eldorado Seville, which had custom features such as an early car phone and built-in memo pad.
• Longyear’s exhibition-model Bonneville Polaris convertible for Pontiac featured a storage compartment for a picnic.
• Pohlman worked on a Buick Shalimar and designed a special glovebox Dictaphone, a hidden umbrella compartment… and purple interior.

In the end, in order to ensure that all the vehicles got seen by the show visitors, Earl asked the guests to vote for their favorite car. The winner was the Fancy Free but everyone’s biggest surprise was Jeanette Linder with her Martinique – The designer who couldn’t even drive.

What the future held

When looking back, the Damsels say they really enjoyed the show. As Suzanne Vanderbilt put it, they particularly enjoyed proving to their male counterparts that

“we are not in the business to add lace doilies to seat backs or rhinestones to the carpets, but to make the automobile just as usable and attractive to both men and women as we possibly can.”

The show was an enormous internal success, and photos of the exhibit and its cars were distributed to national magazines for publication. It seemed like it made a statement about women’s future in automotive design. Or at least it seemed so.

The Damsels without Harley

After the Show, Harley J. Earl retired… and all of a sudden everything changed. His successor, Bill Mitchell, did not share Earl’s excitement about women in the industry at all. Not even one little bit. Three years of fame went by rather quickly.

Yet, almost all of the Damsels would leave GM to go on to other design jobs. Several set up their own design consultancies. Dagmar Arnold went to IBM, where she was the first woman at the company to receive a patent for her external design of the 1301 Disk Storage Unit.

Damsels’ biggest problem at GM was the fact that they were never just designers. As they themselves put it, they were always “les femmes” or “the female designers”. While at the same time, they worked as much as men did and designed the things that men did. As a matter of fact, they really hated the name “Damsels”. It was already a reason to be looked at differently.

There were a lot of women already working in the industry at that time. Yet, most of the times nobody even noticed them. Either because the people didn’t take them seriously, or because they were working with their husbands and were kind of in their shadow at the time.

One thing Harley J. Earl did well was taking women out of the shades. Even though this was only the start, the three-year fame of the Damsels made a statement for others to consider. And even today we could take some lessons from his behavior and remember a few basic but important facts:

• women’s opinion matters sometimes even more than men’s
• women have more than good looks
• a woman can be just as innovative and persistent as a man.

And the fact that there is no such thing as all-male auto industry anymore.

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