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

The post Helene Rother: A trailblazer in the automotive design appeared first on Altered Steel.

The number of women in general and female executives in the automotive industry has gone up during the last decades. However, that number is still too low considering the fact that women make up almost half of the US labor force. Why is it so? 

In this post, we will take a look at some of the reasons why women are not fairly represented in this industry. We will also explore a few solutions that may help women be more present in this industry and get more important roles within companies. 

Let’s start with some of the reasons why women avoid the auto industry: 

Not every girl’s dream

Being a female leader in the industry dominated by men is not something any girl dreams about growing up. The number of girls fascinated by cars since young is not very high. And some women end up in the auto-industry by mere chance.

Some grow up with a father who is a mechanic or a dad who is a key player in the auto industry. Hence, their interest in the automotive world is fostered from a young age. And this is what makes it “easier” for these girls to choose the auto industry. 

But most women do not come from the same background and they are not attracted to this industry as much as men are. 

Less interest in the industry 

Another reason why women avoid the car industry is simply a lack of interest. This type of environment is not appealing to them. There’s also not enough encouragement for women to pursue a career in the automotive industry. And they know that if they choose this path, they will face a lack of advancement opportunities compared to their male counterparts. 

The need for work-life balance

Some women avoid a career in the automotive world because of their need for work-life balance and flexible schedule. The auto industry is demanding. It can take a great chunk of your day, leaving little to no room for life outside of work.

Being a female trucker, for example, and spending most of your day on the road, away from your family and friends, is not something every woman can do. Women know the importance of maintaining work-life balance and they try to position themselves in industries that allow it. 

The need for safety 

Women also want to work in a place where they feel safe. Not that the car industry is not a safe place to work for women. But conscious and unconscious bias that women face hinders their advancement and often pushes them out of the industry for good.

According to a survey by Automotive News which asked around 900 women at all levels and in all segments sexism is “well and alive” in the auto industry. Even though this industry is trying to include women as much as possible, at the same time it is also pushing them away due to high rates of sexual harassment and sexism. 

Women in the C-Suite

Let’s find out how the C-Suite picture is looking for women in the auto world. Globally, when it comes to gender diversity among executive teams, the automotive industry is not showing great progress.

The total percentage of female executives in the top 20 motor vehicle companies went from 7% (in 2014) to 8% (in 2018). The vast majority of the top 20 companies (56%) don’t have any female directors. Any. And this tells us a lot about the current situation and how slow it is moving toward inclusivity and gender equality. 

Empowering women in the auto industry

There are several steps we can take to improve the current situation and increase the number of women in the auto industry as well as the number of female executives. 

The power of encouragement

If more women already in the auto industry start helping, coaching, and supporting each other, more women will feel like they belong in this field. They will be more inclined to continue advancing their careers as well. 

If you are a man or woman working in the auto industry, encourage your female coworkers, inspire them, help them get their voices and opinions heard. In the long run, this will not only result in more women choosing this profession but will also advance the careers of women already working in the industry. The more females hired in this industry, the higher their chances of reaching executive roles. 

Hiring more women

We have seen time and time again how many professions are only targeted towards men, and only men are expected to apply. But we are moving towards the world that is more inclusive and open. Professions nowadays are not as sexist. Women excel at jobs that are “supposed to be done by a man” and vice versa.

When companies use gender-neutral wording in job listings, they leave the door open for women, thus promoting the culture of inclusion and equality.

Not only will this lead to women being more aware of these jobs. It will increase the number of qualified female talent within the auto industry. It is a win-win scenario. 

Final thoughts

Even though the percentage of women in the automotive industry is still relatively low, those who are part of it – are totally rocking it. From fixing and designing cars to planning and managing vehicle production – they are passionate about what they do.

Their profession may be hard and challenging, but that is what propels these women forward. Leading, creating, and designing new things. Adding their feminine and creative touch. And at the same time, inspiring other women who have decided to follow the same path. 

Women are reshaping the automotive industry. Female leaders specifically have shown the world that, after all, in this conventionally male-dominated field, gender is losing its importance.

What matters is the impact your work leaves. The projects you manage to complete successfully. And the sheer joy you feel when you know you have surpassed everyone’s expectations. First of all – your own.

The post Being a female leader in the auto industry appeared first on Altered Steel.

Now every time my family and I recall these memories we laugh it off, of course. But at the same time, we realize how much the toys we received as children have affected us and our choices as adults.

A fair mistake

Since most cars are built and designed by men, from Henry Ford to Elon Musk, we make the common mistake and generalize by thinking that all cars are designed by men. It is a fair mistake, and if you do think that, we forgive you. But the truth is, not all key figures in the history of the automotive industry are men. 

So many women have been and continue to be outstanding innovators in the car manufacturing world. From the early days of the 20th century to modern times, women have pushed the industry to higher levels and have added a feminine touch to so many cars that in our eyes may look like “macho” made beasts. 

Maybe to you, it doesn’t matter who has designed your car. But if you own a vehicle, take a good look at it. Can you tell if it was a man or a woman who designed it? I for one, cannot tell.

Today, we are going to take a look at some of the most popular cars designed by women. And who knows? You might even find out that your car was also designed by a woman. Let’s dive right in, shall we? 

2015 FORD Mustang

Let’s kick off with the ultimate muscle car: The Ford Mustang. Who would have thought that a woman was responsible for redesigning this iconic car in 2015? Yet again, Marcy Fisher was asked to recreate the Ford Mustang for its 50th-anniversary edition. And man, did she do a great job!

Being the vehicle line director, Marcy Fisher has shown the world that women can succeed in an industry dominated by men. She is also coaching other women to follow her example by being more involved in the automotive industry. 

NASH 600

When Helene Rother joined the interior styling staff of General Motors in 1943, she became the first woman to work as an automotive designer in the US. But it was Nash Motors that allowed her to grow and launched her career even further. Rother was responsible for the styling of elegant interiors of most Nash Motor cars from 1948 to 1956. 

Nash 600 was the first vehicle she worked on, and that is why we have chosen this particular model to mention one of the key people in the automotive industry. In 1953, Rother even helped Nash Motors win the Jackson Medal for outstanding design. In a world that appreciated functionality and masculinity in a car at the time, she added a touch of warm and chic comfort. We hope to see more women like her join this challenging industry!

BMW Z4

And here’s another car designed by a woman. And what car! Back in 2009, the BMW Z4 roadster was first introduced to the world at the Detroit Auto Show. The car looked like a dream come true for many, many men. But what they didn’t realize at the time, and maybe even nowadays, was that the brains behind this stereotypical sports beast were two women. 

Juliane Blasi did the exterior design of the car, while Nadya Arnaout was responsible for its interior. These two women proved once again that women can design sleek masculine cars with strong edges. 

NISSAN Titan

Maybe it’s just the feminist in me saying this, but every time a woman invests her soul into something, that something turns into gold. And that is the case with Nissan Titan. Diane Allen was responsible for leading the design team of the first Titan that launched in 2002. Since then, she was looking forward to re-designing the full-size pickup truck and finally got her chance to do so in 2015. 

The pick-up truck, indeed, looks neither stylish nor feminine. It has a “macho” look. And that’s exactly the look the automaker was aiming for with Nissan Titan. 

VOLVO YCC

Swedish multinational manufacturing company Volvo is well known for catering not only to men but also to women. In 2002, five women at Volvo Cars took the initiative to create the Volvo YCC (Your Car Concept) targeting professional women. The car appeared at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. All the decisions for this project were made by women, and the three chief designers were also female. How did they manage to develop a sporty luxury car to meet the needs of the independent female professional? 

They understood that women, like men, want the same thing when it comes to style and performance of the car. But they took a step further when designing Volvo YCC. They always kept in mind a woman’s perspective. 

As women, they knew other women desire to own a car that offered smart storage solutions, a car that is easy to get in and out of, a car that is easy to park, and easy to maintain. And the result was just marvelous, don’t you think?

ACURA NSX

This expensive sports car was manufactured from 1990 to 2005. When the company decided to relaunch the second-generation NSX, they trusted Michelle Christensen to work on the interior. Acura NSX was first introduced to the world at the North American International Auto Show in 2015. 

Christensen had been working for Acura since 2005. She has mentioned in several interviews how she grew as a designer with Acura. For the NSX she had to create a design that would not only make the car look stylish, but also enhance its functionality. 

CHRYSLER 200

We are closing this list with Chrysler 200. Did you know that Winnie Cheung was responsible for the redesign of the Chrysler 200 sedan? This female automotive professional is currently the Interior Chief Designer for the Jeep brand at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Throughout the years she has designed the interior of many sleek FCA Fiat Chrysler vehicles. We think Chrysler 200 is one of her best works.

If your car didn’t make the list, that does not mean that a man MUST have designed it. You know better than that! The number of cars designed by women, be it the exterior or the interior, is immense. 

Do you own any of these cars we have mentioned? Or did you know that any of them were designed by women? If not, we encourage you to dig deeper and research other cars that you haven’t realized were designed by women. In the meantime, read more about women who rock cars and the Damsels of Design. 

The post Is your car designed by a woman? appeared first on Altered Steel.

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.

The post Women who rock cars appeared first on Altered Steel.

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.

The post Women in cars: the Damsels of Design appeared first on Altered Steel.

Women have been racing for at least 122 years now. Men may have raced much longer than women, but women were never as far from motorsports as one might expect. Despite their lack of legal liberties, they have been a vivid part of the racing community ever since day one.

The first recorded ladies’ race

There’s probably no surprise that the first women who dared to race were in Paris, is it? The city that combines effortless elegance and passionate riots. A city of revolution in so many senses.

So it wouldn’t be a mistake to call Parisian women “the elegant rebels”. And just like many other predominantly male fields, racing went through a female revolution as well.

It was a bunch of Parisian women who disrupted the field of racing the way it was known back in the 19th century. In June 1897, eight intrepid French women climbed aboard motorized tricycles and took part in the world’s first recorded ladies’ race.

The race went under the name “Championnat des Chauffeuses”. The eight women who took part were mostly theatrical ladies from Paris.

At least two of them were music-hall performers, and one was a costume designer. The latter, Lea Lemoine, won the race. She was awarded the title “First female motor racing champion”. Her award – a bracelet. How Parisian.

The event was traditionally a part of the “Course des Artistes” sporting contest for celebrities. The previous editions of the races hosted mostly actors and theater people. There was an event for painters at least one time as well.

Traditionally, the biggest attractions of such contests were bicycle races. The tricycles in 1897 were quite an innovation. Especially when you imagine female racers riding them. The tricycles were light and simple to drive. The one in which the winner Lea Lemoine rode had a special frame designed by Clement – one of the leading manufacturers at that time.

Lea Lemoine was the winner at the Championnat des Chauffeuses three years in a row. In 1897, she finished fifth in the Coupe des Motorcycles race. By 1899 at least three other French women had raced tricycles or small cars in open competition and soon after that many more women showed a willingness to take part in such events. The idea of female racing quickly spread through France and beyond. Women from Belgium, UK, and the USA began racing in official female races in the early 1900s.

Choosing to Race

By the time of World War I, women from Germany, Canada, and Russia also chose racing as their passion. Many of them originally had other plans for their occupation but quickly switched to racing once they got into the hype of being behind the wheel. Their love for cars was stronger than anything. And there are plenty of women in the 20^th century who proved it.

One was Helle Nice. A professional dancer who chose to trade her dance slippers for driver’s gloves. In 1929, she won a Grand Prix Féminin. Thrilled about the excitement of having a ”great roaring race car in your hands that wants only to go faster,” she carried on racing in the 30s. That early victory secured her a sleek Bugatti and the nickname ”The Queen of Speed.”

Another prominent female racer was Gwenda Janson. A self-taught WWI ambulance driver. She began racing with a 1000-mile promotional Ner-A-Car recumbent motorcycle. In 1935, she became the fastest woman around Brooklands, with a lap at a speed of nearly 136 mph. Her record was never broken and the race shut down several years later.

Women always found a way even though society expected different things from them at that time. To serve society and to serve the family. Yet, the few who successfully turned these expectations around gave an example to many generations ahead.

The economic boom after the Second World War allowed many wealthy people to pick up racing as a hobby, and women did not fall behind. Among them was Sara Christian – the first female NASCAR driver. She competed in NASCAR’s inaugural race at Charlotte Speedway. Her finish as fifth at Heidelberg Speedway later in the season remains the only top-five finish results for a woman in NASCAR.

NASCAR: The Female Firsts

NASCAR is ahead of other competitions, as it’s one of the few sports where men and women race equally. The race has seen varying levels of female participation over the years. After Christian, only a handful of female drivers followed in her steps and began racing in NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. Since the 70s, however, female drivers have been on the rise. Here are the few that earned their memorable spots in the history of NASCAR.

Shawna Robinson

In 1988, she became the first woman to win a NASCAR Touring Series event (Daytona Dash Series), also earning “Rookie of the Year” and “Most Popular Driver” honors. She also became the first woman to earn the pole position for a NASCAR touring series race in her sophomore year. Robinson would later become the first female driver to clinch the pole in any of the three major series, winning qualifying for March 12, 1994, Xfinity Series Busch Light 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

It was in the 1990s when women began to compete more frequently in the NASCAR lower series. In 2003, it was Robinson who had the first all-female pit crew for a Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Janet Guthrie

She was the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup stock car race in 1976 and the first female driver to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 in 1977. However, she had already pushed the gender boundaries with other accomplishments in male-dominated arenas. 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.

The 2000s brought huge support for female drivers. NASCAR has made continual efforts to make sure they get more female drivers with programs like “NASCAR Drive for Diversity”, which was launched in 2004. In 2014, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series formed the Lady Cup, a championship system for female drivers.

Danica Patrick

A woman with multiple firsts in American auto-racing. Danica Patrick joined NASCAR in 2010 after being an IndyCar racer for more than five years. She is known for her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 race which is 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.

Danica Patrick has 191 starts for seven years at the NASCAR Cup series from 2012 to 2018. She was the second woman to clinch a pole position in the Nationwide Series since Shawna Robinson in 1994. In 2012, Patrick was voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Nationwide Driver, becoming the first woman to receive that award in NASCAR’s top three divisions.

She became the first woman to win a Cup Series pole position by setting the fastest qualifying lap in the 2013 Daytona 500, finishing eighth. Patrick bested Janet Guthrie’s record for the most top-ten finishes by a woman in the Sprint Cup Series in 2015.

Few know that in order to pursue her racing career, Danica dropped out of high school. She admits that it wasn’t hard for her but it must have been for her parents. And that was one of the things that motivated her even more – once she had given up the things society tolerated, she knew she had to make her dream really work. The female determination can be more powerful than anything.

Racing against stereotypes

Many female drivers had to go through similar choices. In the past as well as today:

• Raise a family or race on the tracks?
• Win a college scholarship or win a race?
• Marry a daring man or dare to be more than a man?

Can women have both or do they have to make a choice? What do they have to sacrifice in order to be accepted as part of the racing world? How do these women deal with the amount of prejudice that other people throw at them daily? And if you wonder what exactly that is, I will give you yet another example:

Maria Teressa de Filippis was the first woman to compete in the race that we know today as Formula 1. In 1958, she finished 10^th. And as an “award” for her debut,  she was denied the chance to race the following year. What is worst – she had to face the Race director’s critique:

 “The only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser’s,” he told her. 

The choices women make in order to follow their dreams are often the exact reason others laugh at them. And somehow they leave a mark stronger than any award. Carol “Bunny” Burkett, the first and only woman who won the IHRA Alcohol Funny Car drag race (1986), got a nickname exactly because of her former job as a hostess at a Playboy Club of Baltimore. Nobody noted, however, that she had taken the job in order to support her racing. If that was a man, wouldn’t he be praised for his efforts? Why women aren’t?

It seems like being a woman who loves racing means constantly being questioned and second-guessed. Even today. And this refers to female racers as well as just female racing fans.

Can a girl be a fan at least?

If you are a car girl who loves racing, you constantly go through questions that are meant to prove your worth as a fan. As if you have to prove that you know as much about racing as men do. You have to give arguments for your favorite team and driver, you have to prove you know who won the Monster Energy Cup Series in 2007. And in 1997. And in 1977 just in case.

Just like soccer in Europe, racing in America is still quite unwelcoming to female fans. Despite the huge contribution of women in the sport throughout the years, the judgmental thinking overrules. Women should talk about beauty and kitchen stuff and they have no place near the garage. But why is that? According to Nielsen Scarborough, the NASCAR audience is almost 40 percent female. It seems like more and more women are choosing the race tracks over the kitchen.

And not only that. Women are involved in all areas of the auto industry. More women than ever have a driver’s license in the US. There is an increasing number of women in hard physical jobs such as auto mechanics or truck driving. So men should get used to seeing more female power in auto-related fields. Because in the end, it all comes down to one simple truth:

“The car doesn’t know if you are a female or a male” – Kenzie Ruston 

So take your hat off to all these women who have made driving or racing their top priority – both as racers and as sincere fans. But also take a deep bow to the women that have managed to combine the passion for racing with the job of being a mother, running a family, and managing a business. Because these are the people we should all look up to. Not because of their gender but because of their strong will and determination to live their lives fully.

The post Female racing drivers: the past, present, and future appeared first on Altered Steel.