What women really want

There's no doubt just as many women as men will be attending next month's Johannesburg Motor Show. Why?

Because just as many (if not more) women as men buy cars or have a major say in the buying decision. In fact, in America, women account for 85% of all consumer purchases in everything from cars to health care and - get this - 91% of all new homes.

The stats might be different here, but one thing's for sure: women worldwide over are doing it for themselves.

In the old days, the "man of the house" would select and buy the new family car.

Today, with most families having at least two cars, and with the fairer sex taking giant leaps up the corporate ladder, women have become as involved in choosing and negotiating their own vehicle deals as men.

They know what they want, and why they want it. After all, they have to drive it. So the chance to get up close and personal with the incredible range of new models at the Johannesburg Motor Show, where they can drool over the Nissan Leaf, for example, or gape at the huge Hino trucks, or exclaim over the range of cute scooters, or even experience the radical state-of-the-art Ranger simulator at the Ford stand, won't be missed.

Interestingly, women generally go with gut instinct first, and then worry about price and fuel efficiency, while men are more concerned with size and performance (what else is new?).

And while numerous women are happy to negotiate the deals without a man around, it turns out many feel they're not always afforded the respect they deserve from salesmen.

Kim Duffy, a travel agent from Durban, said that although she felt perfectly comfortable deciding on the family car and her own car, she would be reluctant to sign the deal without a man present.

"When I bought my last car my father-in-law squeezed the salesman for extra carpets and got a towbar thrown in. I wouldn't have been able to do that."

Which seems to bear out a survey by Globalnews.ca: which found that 99% of men agreed women should not be in charge of the final decision on a family car.

But wait for it ... women agreed. A staggering 96% of women said they shouldn't be the ones deciding on a new car.

The show at the Expo Centre, Nasrec, runs from October 6 to 16.