Rented cute girls.

-90% jimmy

The "Auto Show" is nothing but an expensive circle jerk for the big shots
and a circus for the yokels.

What a waste, and it ACTUALLY turns women buyers OFF. And women are the biggest car BUYERS, by FAR.





snip>"Here's an important little tidbit for you: Did you know that in almost 80% of the cases where married couples buy a new or used vehicle that it is the woman who calls the shots and makes the final decision? It's true!

Women in particular are distrustful of car salespeople...especially used car salespeople! When a women is shopping for a car alone she is often told to come back with her husband without the salesperson ever knowing if she is actually married or not!

Here are some very interesting statistics pertaining to women:

Women make up 51% of the population.

Almost half the adult female population is unmarried.

About 57% of single women are homeowners.

64 million adult women work outside the home, and 19% of them earn more than $30,000 a year. About 6.5% of them earn more than $50,000.

Women own 38% of the businesses in the U.S. and employ 27.5 million people.

43% of individuals with assets over $500,000 are women.

And women outlive men by 5.4 years!

Wake up car salespeople! With those kind of statistics staring you in the face you'd better wise up and use some common sense in your treatment of women customers.

You (car salespeople) need to earn a woman's trust or she will never buy anything from you. Pay more attention to your body language so that you're not sending the wrong signals. Maintaining eye contact with any person puts them at ease and shows interest in what they are saying. You must be a good listener.

Women want you to help solve their transportation needs. Place emphasis on vehicle reliability, safety and security, interior room and cargo space.

Women want to enjoy the selling process. They will most likely do research on the Internet and visit more than one dealership. If you try to pressure them you most likely will never see them again.

Even when a woman is shopping with her husband for a car that will be primarily driven by him she still has extraordinary veto power."<unsnip

and have never once run into the issues claimed in that article. Not to say it doesn't happen but I've never had it happen to me.

usually young males. The older guys and the women don't tend to assume as much.

But me point was that the "booth babes" were a waste of money and a
ridiculous pandering.

I was just more shocked by the snip you included than the fact that auto shows have gotten it wrong. Last car I bought (about a year or so ago), I had a younger salesman but maybe it has to do with geography. Of course, I also used to work at the largest wholesale auto auction in the world, so I'm pretty familiar with how dealers act.

The first time was when I ordered a new truck from the Chevrolet dealer. Ordered with a full package, before the beginning of the new model year, no negotiation, ready to pay full price, cash money deposit with the rest to be paid in full on delivery. The salesman kept jerking me around, never did order my truck.

FOUR months later I went back in, got a refund (demanded cash since I paid cash), drove across town to the GMC dealer. They talked over with me what I wanted and what they had on the lot. They had the perfect truck on the lot, ready to go. The only delay in getting it was that I had to get someone to drive my old car home.

The second and third times were when I was buying a tractor for the farm. Neither the John Deere place or the Ford tractor place would even talk to me. They kept telling me to bring in my husband. **I** was the one who was buying the tractor and who would be driving the tractor, not hubby. The second time I stopped at the Ford place, no salesman would even come out of the office. I drove the extra twenty miles to the Massey Ferguson dealer. The guys there helped me pick out my tractor, select the attachments, taught me how to use it, delivered it at no cost, reviewed the operation and maintenance, and gave me great service for 25 years more. Up until the service guy retired, when I called for them to come give the tractor yearly service, I never even had to tell him my name, he recognized my voice. I used their services until I was restricted from using the tractor (a whole 'nother story!),

The fourth time was at another Chevy dealer. I went in to shop for a car, walked around the lot for 20-30 minutes, no one came out to help me. I went into the office and the receptionist told me all the sales people were in a meeting. I asked if someone could give me a few minutes and she went in to ask. One guy stuck his head out the door, and told me to come back with my husband. I never went back.

I never had the problems in the article - once the people start talking to me and my husband, they realize real fast who is the person who makes the decisions.

LOL!!!

last year was an off year and still we had over 730,000 visitors there


I was asked in a restaurant during lunch 2 days ago about how to get tickets to the show


I was stopped on Woodward Ave. and asked about where a nice hotel near the show was.


Just because there are models there giving the little speeches and handing out information about the cars doesn't mean that women are turned off by it.

Women like to shop (sorry to stereotype there but the post I am responding to made similar statements) and if you want to car shop then the Detroit Auto Show is the ultimate shopping experience. Dealers run specials for people with auto show ticket stubs, among other promotions.


The Detroit Auto Show is fantastic and if you honestly think otherwise then you should go see it for yourself.

Usually dragged there by NON-car buying boyfriends.

It's a sausage fest for the main part.

And a venue for the auto guys to glad-hand and
be big shots.

Here's one of my auto show memories:

for one thing Hurst isn't even an auto company and the show was held inside even back in '68


(that is a '68 Cutlass, isn't it?)


here is a pic from inside the 1968 Detroit Auto Show






as far as it being a "sausage fest".... many things are. Sporting events for example, that doesn't mean that these things are bad. Other things appeal to women more than men, these things are not bad either.


I think the post I was responding to is way off base attacking the show just because there are models there. If you bother to ask these women about the cars they are promoting you just might be surprised how knowledgeable they are. Dismissing them as simply eye candy is a mistake.

Not exactly "women inclusive" marketing.

I worked in and with ad agencies in the Detroit area for
a couple of decades.

Women with power and influence in the agency arena were RARE.
They STILL are.

And I didn't say these things were "bad".

I said that women BUY MORE CARS than men,
but they waste their marketing dollars on bullshit
like "booth babes".

I wish I would have bought one back then.

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Linda_Vaughn.htm

I've "met" her at Auto Shows.

She left a more lasting impression on me than
the "booth babes"....

But taken in total, the "celebrities" and the "booth babes"
left me with the impression that the "show" really wasn't
being put on for me, my benefit, or to influence MY purchasing
decisions.

Sorry, but I lived in Detroit from '82 to '08 and I couldn't agree...with PassingFair (who I may or may not have gone to one of the shows with, I can't remember)...more. It's ridiculously overpriced for the obscenity that it is.

why a nice looking lady is needed at a car show.

Yeah, yeah.. I guess sex sells.

How would you feel if someone called you sexy? Well, does not matter, how you should feel is used and second class...

Compliments hurt. And don't tell me you like them, it would only mean you are too oppressed to feel the proper way.

here on DU kinda sad.

If DU'ers our "democratic, loving, understanding" brethen don't get it... who does?

I find it all kinda sad really.

If a male DU sent a post to you saying something like "calm down, gal" wouldn't you feel offended?

On the bright side though, at least there is no doubt now as to where things stand.

that they reveal themselves for what they are. It's not like we thought just because guys are Democrats that they are thinkers.

good looking women, although the redheaded gal in picture 3 looks oddly out of place.

Nothing wrong with nice looking ladies, but what is the point?

VIOLENCE!!!!!

BOOBS!!!!!



RL

It's apocalyptical.

Last time i attended CES, there were some pretty top-heavy bunnies there. It's humiliating to be attending as a serious female professional when you're surrounded by Hooters gals.

In Asia they're called Race Queens.

I'd say grow up except for the fact it would somehow be related back to the Mighty Peni.

However, it's interesting to look at. The use of attractive women to sell cars is a long-standing thing. This thread, and the images at the link, demonstrate the all-too-common use of women to distract from the actual product and attempt to sell the sex, rather than the product. The myth that men buy most cars is perpetuated by all of this.

And it's not just cars. Other trade shows do the same thing. I was a regular attendee at COMDEX, which was the largest computer-oriented trade show in the US for many years. I was there as a journalist, looking for potential stories for the magazine I wrote for. Companies hired models to stand around looking attractive at their booths. Those models were useless when it came to answering questions that I had. Companies also had women at the booths who worked for the company and who did have information. All too often, though, the companies insisted that those women dress in a way that made it difficult to tell them apart from the models who were there as decorations and to attract men to the booth.

The bottom line was that it was always a crapshoot whether a woman at the booth had any information to impart to a journalist in quest of information. It was very frustrating. I finally learned the trick, though, of bypassing this display of sexism.

That trick was to walk right through the distractions and head to the interior of the display area. There, a person could find someone, male or female, who actually knew information that was of use. Someone who actually worked for the company. Someone who noticed the Press badge and was ready to help actually publicize their products. The perimeter of the display area was just a ruse to attract people to the display area. Many never went beyond the models and others who were on the perimeter. They got handed brochures, etc., put their business cards in a bowl for a drawing and got a tchotchke of some kind to put into their bulging bag and be thrown away later.

Their real function wasn't to sell stuff. It was to gather information from attendees, which would be followed up by salespeople. The information was only available to those who knew this and who would enter the display area and find an actual representative. In reality, all of those attractive women were a shield for those who were actually there to provide information. Without them, there wouldn't be enough real representatives to handle the crowds.

Distraction. It can be valuable.