In the Driver's Seat By Kara Stefan

Women comprise 54% of new car buyers, and studies reveal they pay an average of $200 more than men for new cars.   And women are also 40% more likely to pay the dealer's asking price. Now if that's not marked discrimination, I don't know what is.

We have the means to level the playing field with men. It's called the Internet, and if you're reading this article, you've tackled the hardest part of buying a car (learning  to use a computer). One of the more popular car-buying sites for women, Autobytel.com, recently conducted a survey of women car-buyers. It found that women's greatest concerns when buying a car are:                
    * Convenience
    * Being in control
    * Being discriminated against when buying and servicing their car

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Automakers reach out to women
Companies encourage future car designers
By Margarita Bauza

Katie Slater, a soft-spoken, ponytail-sporting 17-year-old, is attracted to fast cars and powerful engines.

As a 14-second, 100-meter sprinter at Cabrini High School in Allen Park, Katie says cars should run and look as sleek and fast as her sprint.

Chelsea Ramirez, 17, of Plantation, Fla., is more about luxury and less about practicality, even though her own car, a 2005 Honda Civic, is famously functional.

Meet the car buyers and designers of the future. According to Ford Motor Co. research, women influence 85 percent of all car-buying decisions and purchase 45 percent of all vehicles, Ford spokeswoman Marisa Bradley said.

Despite that, women are still the minority in the design workplace, something the industry is trying to change. Women make up 39 percent of all designers in all industrial trades, including furniture, autos, boats and offices. A further breakdown wasn't available from Ford, which cited proprietary reasons.

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Auto dealers try to sell prospects on industry careers
By MARC RAIFMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS

An industry adapting to a world run by computers and the Internet is searching for young and enthusiastic men and women, out of high school and college, to educate and give a career.

"What you may have thought of as your local neighborhood car dealership is actually a huge industry," Ohio Porsche dealership owner Michelle Primm told The Associated Press and a Cuyahoga Community College class during a lecture. "There are a ton of jobs: accounting, management, technical. It can be a lifelong, very rewarding career."

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