The Auto Industry Has No Idea What Women Want

[00:02] arrived, and it's not some plug-in hybrid or fully electric luxury space heater for cafe parking lots or whichever residential neighborhood spot they can find within walking distance of the ocean. No, none of that. You see, a

[00:17] new report by the Wall Street Journal found that the hot new accessory is basically any time-worn SUV from the 1990s, the 1980s, or even the 1970s.

[00:29] 1990s, the 1980s, or even the 1970s. Old Ford Broncos, Land Rover Defenders, Jeep Wranglers, and Toyota Land Cruisers, just to name a few. And some of these are going for upwards of six figures. And honestly, I don't blame the

[00:42] women paying these prices if it ultimately makes them happy, because they're condescended to a lot by the automotive industry, where automakers automotive industry, where automakers turn out lifeless CVT-driven SUVs on the

[00:55] premise that you're so utterly devoid of taste that you'll just pick whichever has the most rows or the coldest blowing AC. It's like they assume you don't have an identity beyond consumer. And whether anybody wants to admit it or

[01:10] not, one of the most important factors in what sells a consumer on a car is its ability to accessorize their identity, because that that's kind of what this whole channel is even about. That's how we kind of

[01:23] made our channel identity, by assigning personalities to the people who drive cars. Sometimes it's through a straw man, sometimes it's through a more specific personality. But the reality is that cars are kind of accessories. Cars

[01:38] are a pinch of salt that brings out the flavor of whoever the hell you are. Cars aren't just accessories, but they can add a lot to the overall aesthetic of you. But if it's that easy for these

[01:53] classic SUVs to tap into an identity market, then you would think the auto industry would just hijack the retro aesthetic and rake in the money, right? Well, some auto makers have definitely been trying.

[02:08] But, women still like them old. So, what gives? Why are women spending six figures buying and modernizing decades-old trucks? And how on Earth did

[02:21] some of the most impractical used cars on the market today suddenly become among the most desirable? I have some thoughts, and I promise the answer is not that cars are too expensive today. Blah, blah, blah.

[02:36] expensive. >> We can rant if we want to. We can send our best regards, cuz your friends don't rant, and if they don't rant, then they're not into cars. >> So, the Wall Street Journal published a

[02:49] report at the end of June, and look, it's not exactly a peer-reviewed study. They talked to regular working women, high-earning executives, fashionable influencers, and your average content creators and Substack havers, in

[03:06] addition to various restoration garages and automotive rental services to figure out if this trend is actually implying anything greater about car-buying attitudes among women. And where there's smoke,

[03:22] yeah, you know the rest of it. Quote, "Banyan Motors, a Houston-based company that restores 20th century German cars, that restores 20th century German cars, says its roster of female clients rose

[03:36] 60% in the past 2 years. At classic car insurance company Hagerty, the number of women under 50 who bought Broncos from the '60s and '70s jumped 82% over the past 3 years.

[03:54] End quote. And Restomodders aren't the only ones seeing huge business spikes. One couple noted that 80% of their clients for their vintage Land Rover rental business are women between the

[04:09] rental business are women between the ages of 20 and 40 years old who rent out Defenders at a price of $500 a day because they've seen them in travel, fashion, or design media.

[04:24] And this was echoed by an automotive event rental company based out of Long Island whose owner stated that their clientele is also 80% women.

[04:37] And these clients are booking the cars for photo shoots out of a complex impulse that's part nostalgia and part desire to create the impression of wealth through the image of a vehicle whose upkeep is too expensive for us

[04:52] proletariat to reasonably afford. Intimating that quote, part of the Intimating that quote, part of the appeal is implying that you can afford to take care of it. End quote.

[05:06] And we'll circle back to that statement in a minute. But what I find most interesting about this article isn't the suggestion that these are the new wealth signifiers, these classic SUVs, but instead that the women the Wall Street

[05:21] Journal actually spoke to never seemed to couch it in those terms. If anything, they seemed to imply a deeper kinship with these vehicles. Whether it's because it was a car she grew up idolizing, as was the case for one Land

[05:37] Rover buyer, or simply because these cars have more character to where the cost might be daunting, but it isn't a deal breaker, either. The article introduces us to a 28-year-old Manchester, England woman who bought a

[05:52] Manchester, England woman who bought a 1994 Jeep Wrangler YJ for $16,500 a Washington-based web designer who dropped $76,000

[06:06] on a 1987 Land Rover Defender. One content creator in Los Angeles spent a hundred G's on a 1995 Mercedes-Benz 230GE.

[06:20] A co-founder of a California clothing brand bought a custom 1976 Ford Bronco brand bought a custom 1976 Ford Bronco for $125,000.

[06:34] But all of that that that pales in comparison to the CEO of a clinical research company based out of Atlanta. She purchased a resto-modded 1977 Ford Bronco for 300

[06:49] for 300 grand without so much as a test drive. And this vintage aesthetic has extended to more mainstream personalities and celebrities like Sydney Sweeney who tools around LA in a 1969 Ford Bronco

[07:05] she reportedly restored herself which leads to a sort of chicken-or-the-egg question situation here. Did the obsession with this retro aesthetic start with celebrities who influenced everyone else to follow suit or were

[07:20] celebrities just hopping on a very old bandwagon? And if it is celebrities and influencers causing this, does that cheapen the revival or should we just be happy that these cars are getting a second life at

[07:34] all and new enthusiasts are potentially being created? That the community of people who love and appreciate these vehicles is getting larger. For me, I would lean more towards this being a good thing, irrespective of the

[07:50] reasons. Maybe gatekeepers to car culture will be annoyed that these classic cars are being appropriated for social media, but I don't see how that's really any different from keeping these cars alive just to display them at a car

[08:06] garage, you know? Gatekeeping anything has never made sense to me. I don't see the point in being an unpaid bouncer. What I will say though is that for better or worse, the

[08:20] signifiers for wealth do seem to be changing. Because what I'm getting from this Wall Street Journal article is that for whatever dumbass reason, discomfort has become aspirational. People are paying top dollar for the privilege of

[08:36] owning a car that could cost them a fortune and blown head gaskets and timing chains. It's artisanal inconvenience. Like having the memory of frustration professionally restored and handed right

[08:51] back to you. And while I don't think it's necessarily that TV, movies, or social media are somehow glorifying the struggle in a way that makes the wealthy want to get in on all the suffering, I do think that the climate of our time,

[09:06] characterized by the amount of people struggling, has made people of a certain income level far more discerning of how they display their wealth. So that for some, yes, a classic SUV is about flaunting by

[09:21] showing that they have this vehicle that costs a lot to maintain. Or maybe it's simply about aesthetic and they want to appear a certain way to the world to the exclusion of their own bank account. But for some, it can also just be about

[09:36] wanting a car they can enjoy even if it does come with a lot of headaches. But then I also think there's a sort of intermediary stage between those two extremes. Wealthy people who get these cars

[09:50] because of a misalignment between what they perceive as relatability and what they perceive as fashionable. Let me explain. For some people, relatability is a fashion by itself.

[10:04] You wear the costume of relatability because it's in in the same way because it's in in the same way shag-headed emo hair was in the 2000s. And a car is the best way to accessorize if the costume you're going for is

[10:19] if the costume you're going for is relatable but with taste. It's not that an old Bronco or an old Defender is necessarily better than a modern G Wagon. It's that they're worse in a way that adds character and

[10:33] projects it, too. With that said, that's only one angle and admittedly a really cynical one because I don't think influencer fashion or design trends are conclusively the thing that's driving all of this. Most

[10:50] of the women interviewed by the Wall Street Journal aren't influencers or are in any sort of media space where they need to appear to be a certain way. These are regular people who wanted a car they could love that makes them

[11:04] Some of the women interviewed talked about enjoying the engagement of a manual transmission or the feeling of getting thumbs up from strangers. Some sort of framed their choice as being in opposition to modern car options, such

[11:20] as how EVs will run you over because they're so quiet, or how new Jeeps don't have the charm of old Jeeps, or how, and I quote, "A G Wagon is for a rich girl who does Pilates and a vintage Defender is for a girl who has edge." End quote.

[11:37] Basically, it doesn't seem like this is being driven by fashion or class, but being driven by fashion or class, but more by pure, undiluted vibes. Not those vibes, although I suppose give them time.

[11:51] But then I kind of come back to the cost problem, because even if you have the exorbitant amount of money that some of these cars are going for to just buy it outright, vehicles of a certain age come with costs that accumulate over time.

[12:06] Because it's one thing to resto-mod a car like so many of the subjects of this article have done, but it's another thing entirely to maintain it. For thing entirely to maintain it. For example, the woman who spent $76,000

[12:19] on her Defender ended up having to spend an additional $31,000 in costs after purchasing it. And you have to really love your car to

[12:31] sink that much into it. Even if, as she would tell the reporter, quote, "If you buy a Defender for $70,000, $70,000, it will be the best $120,000

[12:46] you ever spent." End quote. But whether those prices can be justified depends largely on which classic SUV you're getting, obviously, because different models have different

[12:59] points of failure. For instance, the first-gen Broncos received a lot of criticism in the tail end of that model generation for having lousy rust-proofing, which compromised everything from wheel wells to rocker

[13:14] panels. And then you had unassisted drum brakes that had all the stopping power of a Stella D'oro breadstick. And while it wasn't Ford's fault that the emission standards changed and suddenly catalytic converters were a thing, it did hamper

[13:29] converters were a thing, it did hamper the stock 302's power output. Now, fixing those things is absolutely possible. Fixing those things cheaply is not. But then it sort of speaks to how fed up

[13:44] consumers are with the state of cars that are available on the current market that they would rather find some beat-up 4x4 and restore it than be shackled to an 84-month loan on a car that does nothing for them.

[13:58] At least with a classic Land Rover Defender, you can modify it to include the modern climate control and Bluetooth compatibility it didn't have. You can improve the seals from their water-permitting factory standard. You

[14:13] can address the engine or transfer case leaks, change out the swivel hubs and seals on the front wheels, whatever. But there's nothing you can really do to make a Cybertruck communicate anything good about you to the world. There's

[14:27] nothing you can do to liven up your Volkswagen Taos if if the foundation isn't giving you anything to work with, you know what I mean? Or if modifying it to suit you would result in building an entirely new car altogether. Okay, yeah,

[14:42] so it has modern comforts and conveniences, and maybe my Kia Sportage parked in the driveway of my split-level ranch house doesn't make my life appreciably worse, but that's all I can really say about it. Actually, I

[14:56] example cuz I haven't actually driven one yet. If anybody has a Sportage that they want to let me take a spin with and film, just drop me an email. But zooming out and looking at the full picture, my ultimate conclusion here is

[15:13] that more than vibes and more than celebrity or media influences, I think celebrity or media influences, I think what's really driving this is just that. It's disillusionment with the auto industry.

[15:26] Automakers spent so much time trying to engineer the image of perfection that it sort of became lifeless and unappealing and it didn't mean anything. And generally speaking, I think we like a bit of dirt or grime. The idea that

[15:39] there's a story underneath it all, that a life is being lived. I'm not even sure the nicest luxury car or SUV has even half of the personal narrative power of

[15:52] one of these old battle wagons that demand your attention and your involvement. And compounding the irony here is that the current auto industry has been trying to capture the nostalgia market in recent years. They really,

[16:07] market in recent years. They really, truly have. The Volkswagen ID Buzz looks like a vintage microbus and then there's the Nissan Z and the Ford Bronco, each getting heritage editions. The latest Land Cruiser, the Mini Cooper, hell, the

[16:22] new Defender. This resurgence happened in spite of automakers trying to make in spite of automakers trying to make their new SUVs as much like old SUVs as possible. Yet, no matter how hard automakers try to adopt a retro

[16:37] aesthetic, I'm not sure it'll ever fully work because the silhouette just isn't the same. The feel isn't the same. You don't get the same lived-in vibes from those newer models, even if you get that comfort and convenience that the

[16:52] originals did not have. Ultimately, it isn't that an old Bronco is better than a new one, but that it presents a better opportunity to represent yourself to the world in the way you would want to be represented because every choice you

[17:08] make is a choice that you made. The choice to do a full restoration or modernize or just leave it as is, but perform life-extending maintenance. Yeah, the car is cool on its own, but it's also cool because of what you do

[17:24] with it, how you maintain it. And not in to get into some cultural or identity wars, but I do think the world has never been great about giving women choices, you know? To put it as generously as possible, society has not always been

[17:41] kind to women. And so, I am not at all opposed to any realm where they are being given the opportunity to exert their own identity, to project how they

[17:53] really feel about themselves and the world by means of a car. If it makes them feel more fully in control of their world and their aesthetic and what they're presenting to the world, I love that for them. And there are people that

[18:08] I think are kind of weirdly opposed to it because it means that, you know, it's club for the wrong reasons. It's not because they love cars. It's they they love the appearance of loving cars." But does that really matter? Like truly,

[18:23] does it matter? I genuinely don't understand the idea that there's only one way to love cars and that loving them for superficial reasons is somehow wrong. That having a classic car that exists for a social media post is

[18:39] somehow less worthy than having a car for the express purpose of parking yourself alongside it in a lawn chair at some summer car meet. Am I making sense? I I don't When it's all said and done, that car is

[18:55] yours. And I think that's why it's so meaningful because the aesthetic represents you. It's your build. And it's more meaningful than a build that was conceptualized, developed, engineered, and produced for you. With

[19:10] the auto industry making assumptions about your tastes and the kind of nonsense you would tolerate in the name of having the newest and nicest thing, with expectations that if if we style it to look enough like the old thing, that

[19:25] your brain might release the same familiar endorphins. But if the resurgence of old SUVs appears to have its origin in the desire to stand out in Instagrammable, TikTokable ways, I would argue instead

[19:42] that the failure of current automotive trends to capture that consumer base is a more direct origin point. And while this seems to be a trend that And while this seems to be a trend that only the wealthy can participate in, I

[19:57] do feel that it's a more extravagant expression of a more relatable automotive enthusiasm. The old-fashioned love for a car that might not always love you back, but you stick with because a piece of your

[20:12] identity, and maybe even a piece of your soul, is tied up in the framework. But what do you think? What is the cause for this surge in classic SUVs among

[20:26] women? What are some of your anecdotal stories? If Are any of the women in your life showing a similar proclivity towards classic SUVs or classic cars in general? Let me know. I'm reading all the comments and I'll even be responding

[20:41] in the comments as well. You know, I'll be there talking. My screen name is limited time Roman and if you see me, say hi. If not, why am I saying say hi? Like this is, you know, we're in a grocery store

[20:54] walking past each other. Anyway, I always love talking to you guys and I'm so unbelievably grateful for you spending your time watching this video. And if you enjoyed it, please like, comment, and subscribe if you feel it

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[21:23] day, your viewership is enough. So, thank you for providing it. I hope you enjoyed the video. Have an outstanding rest of your week.