V8 Commodore = a car for blokes. Ford Fiesta = a car for girls. Motoring marketing has been pretty clear for decades, and a new Roy Morgan study might help car manufacturers update the four-wheeled stereotypes for the next generation of men and women.

The Roy Morgan study asked for the opinions of over 5000 male and female drivers (results graph below), and found that men like impressive facts and figures about a car rather than a ‘gut feel’, while women prefer a focus on safety, fuel efficiency and reliability.

“Overall, the top priority for those intending to purchase a car in the next 4 years is for a car that has all the extras as standard (77% agreement),” says Roy Morgan’s industry communications director Norman Morris, “but for women (the top priority) is fuel efficiency (82%) and for men it is the need to spend time researching options before deciding on a car (76%). Australian new car intenders are also cautious and will only buy a car with a proven track record (75%), will spend a lot of time researching their options (74%) and agree that a long warranty is essential (73%).”