Female Ferrari-owners. Very few. Why?

Wondering why...I see a ton of female Porsche drivers.

With the whole women's equality movement, many have shattered the glass ceiling, reaching CEO and C-suite executive levels and the multi-million dollar compensation, so why not a Ferrari?

Don't get me wrong, I like the elite, male-dominated Ferrari world....just wondering. Is a Ferrari too much car? Maybe...but I know a female fighter-pilot who's pretty damn hard-core...Is it too expensive? Maybe women would rather buy a few $40,000 Louis Vuitton bags instead of a Ferrari??? ;-)

So what is it?

Sorry if this has been discussed before. Couldn't find any threads...

 

They dont have small penis syndrome.

Fact is most people, male, female, black, white, young, old who CAN afford a Ferrari do not own one. They just have other interests.

 

To some degree Jerry's right but honestly, cars are designed for specific markets. Most Ferrari's are designed and targeted with men in mind. It's not surprising then that most Ferrari's are bought by men. In fact, its an example of how successful their marketing strategy is.

 

LOL!

There are a few female Fcar and Lcar owners, but women tend to be more practical/realistic about cars. I see a lot of women with Vettes, Porsches, Jags, Merc SLs, even Astons but when it comes to real obnoxiously impractical cars like Ferraris, Lambos, Vipers it just isn't worth it to them.

 

When a price starts rivaling vacation homes I think women get more practical
Whereas men just can't help themselve's

 

Because Ferraris are masculine. Maybe with the new California we'll see more ladies behind the wheel of F-cars. Although a very competent GT, it still has amenities that will appeal the the female customer.

For sure the earlier ones with no power steering wouldn't suit females..

Greg

 

Very true. I see plenty of buffed-out successful-type women in expensive production sedans of all makes; almost none in sports cars, exceptions being Corvettes, BMW 2-seaters, Miatas, etc. Don't see many in Porsches, maybe they're more a guy thing here.

We can't...reality dissolves.

 

They blew too much $$$$ on shoes, make up, & underwear

You can buy lots of girly gear for the price of 1 F tune up

 

Maybe women think Ferraris are for men only.

 

All of my female friends said they would be scared to drive it. Maybe it is part of the reason ?

 

Hey, I take offense to that! I ordered the California because it is an amalgamation of the amenities I want with the performance and sexiness of the Pininfarina touch. What's wrong with wanting bluetooth, satellite radio, and i-pod connection in my F-car? Not to mention the ground-breaking technology (purely designed for performance) in this new model.
There is nothing girly about the California. Dang it!

 

All of my girlfriends say the same thing.

Also, to me, I can compare an F-car to a woman. They're both beautiful with curves in all the right places. So maybe some feel the same way, they think of them as a beautiful woman, and they don't want that.

 

There is something to this...

I told my GF that I was getting one and she said that she wished she could have one.

Then, when I got it, I tossed her the keys. She said she was afraid to drive it and hasn't to this day. Reality and fantasy are two different things.

Go figure...

 

I think there aren't that many women who are truly interested in cars per se, they're generally just seen as a means for getting somewhere or maybe as a decoration, and for those types, Ferrari until very recently was too hard to handle.
Lots of guys have asked can I talk to their wives/girlfriends and make them love cars like I do, but I think it's just something you're born with...
However, the few of us here in Aus (there are about 6 I can think of off-hand who own, drive, track their own cars) are probably the most rabid enthusiasts you'll find! Oh and another curious bit of trivia - none of the girls I can think of here are big, butch types - we're all little 'girls'!

 

Women get enough attention already as is

 

Some women are scared of driving them because
1- they don't want to deal with the husband or boyfriend to explain how the car got damaged
2- Pay the deductable to pay for the repair

 

Female owner's perspective - (mine anyway and not representative of any others ...disclaimer, he he...)

Post #1 - 40K LV bag - to me total waste of money for overpriced goods
Post #2 - true, most who can afford a Ferrari, spend their money in other directions
Post #3 - very true on the marketing strategy, a Ferrari is a man's toy; (horses are my toys - a fairly common place commodity with females - exception cutters/reiners/ranch horses)
Post #4 - practical/realistic about cars, definitely (that's why I have Audi Care on my tt coupe) - practically is number one (I have two Chevy diesel 4x4 trucks (a work truck and a go to shows trailer hauler) - difficult to put horse feed/hay bales/building supplies into a Ferrari), my MB sports coupe is practical/sporty/fast and useful (can hold a large quantity of groceries in the trunk), my tt coupe is for fun too when I don't want to be a cowgirl. These other cars/trucks don't require the vast expenditure in upkeep as does Sophia every so many miles or years thus are more practical
Post #5 - yes more practical when price rivals a large commodity
Post #6 - power steering is not a major problem, farm work makes you strong, however a larger tractor without PS could really be a handful
Post #7 - tend to agree on the Porsche comment, Boxster and Cayman more female cars
Post #8 - don't spend $$$ on all those things, I'd rather go to a car race in Europe with the $$$ - I'd rather have memories of great racing/great times than a piece of cloth or shoes that wear out - absolutely correct, one F tune up is a ritzy version of a trip for two to the LeMans 24Hour
Post #9 - look at the majority of the ads, most are geared towards male ownership - a guy driving with a pit babe in the passenger seat
Post #10 - I'm not at all scared to drive it and have driven it but it's really his baby so he drives it just as he's not driven my tt as it's my baby (didn't even drive it on the autobahn when we picked it up in Ingolstadt).
Post #11 - California reminds me of the SLK 350 we had
Post #12 - Sophia is a beautiful Italian female, IMO she has classic style and is very special being only 1 of 42 beauties in the US
Post #13 - not a case of reality or fantasy here - case of enjoying being a passenger while he enjoys his time spent with Sophia

Not a stranger to cars, I'd had some neat new cars in their day - '65 Mustang GT, '66 Chevelle SS 396 x 2. My view of you guy's comments.

Carol

 

Funny what you said about Horses. Meg agrees with you and I have a Cutter.
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Let's face it guys, anything we say is pure speculation. We all know we don't know crap about how women think so I suggest we leave this thread to women only. Perhaps we can learn something.

Dave

 

I was hoping you would chime in here. Very good insight. I think my wife would drive an FCar if we had one.

The parents of a high-school friend of mine own a silver F430 Spider that I see around town all the time...it's usually driven by her mother. It was a nice sight in my rear view mirror this morning on my way to work.

 

Jim - Beautiful horse Meg has and I like his ear/fly protector - here's a question...why are the majority of entrants at the cutting horse show males? yes, I've seen women on cutters but it definitely seems more male dominated...


Travis - couldn't pass it up! great that your wife would drive one too

Carol

 

I had an 80's (real) M-6.
It was said at the time to be the car with the highest percentage of male ownership in the world. Almost 100%. Dont remember the exact number just the fact.

That said seeing a woman owner/driver in a Porsche GT3 (forget GT2, a fantasy) would be a trip.

There is a woman locally that owns and daily drives a 360.

 

I know a local woman who had a GT3. She also races.

Dave

 

well, this is easy: simply put, Ferraris are cars largely appealing to the Latin male machismo thing (which is to say, appeals to the male chauvinist in all of us).

Women are often put off by that, most often American women.

 

The practicality thing is certainly true of my Honda driving wife. Cheap, reliable car with zero service is her idea of a perfect car. She would happily spend the value of a Ferrari on a kitchen, though. Years ago, an administrative assistant at Merck (pharmaceutical) ordered a new Shelby Cobra and Caroll Shelby was so curious about what kind of woman would order a Cobra that he delivered it in person. She wouldn't provide more details than that!