Lifestyle lessons: what can fashion teach the car world?
6th March, London: Episode three of the new Auto Trader podcast Women in the driving seat, hosted by Editorial Director, divorced mum of two and award-winning motoring journalist Erin Baker is released today. The series aims to rip up the rule book on the female-empowerment narrative by sharing personal as well as professional experiences, examining the space where both collide, and the challenges, fears and successes happen.
Episode three spotlights a range of topics from the importance of the consumer in building a brand, how topics that are dominated by women, such as fashion, are seen as “B-grade” and why the male dominated history of the automotive industry has lots to learn from the fashion industry.
All episodes in the series feature a Podcast Pit Stop – a quick fire round covering the professional and personal including; Lark or owl? Circuit or circuits? Phone by the bed or phone downstairs?
Join Erin as she puts two women accustomed to spinning plates and dropping balls in the driving seat.
Podcast preview
Jo Elvin:
“My experience [of the automotive industry] in a professional sense, working in magazines, you talk to car manufacturers who are considering advertising in women’s magazines - but it wasn’t that common.”
“I met a lot of car brands who would say ‘we really want to talk to women, how do we talk to women?’ and you tell them just… talk to women? And they’d say ‘no that’s not going to work’ I don’t feel like there’s been many… in my experience who treats women the same as men i.e. a valid consumer.”
“Women are asking just really sensible questions about all the practical elements of electric vehicles and what did come across time and time again was this psych obstacle about the issue of safety around electric cars.”
“I ran screaming back to work – I love my daughter, but babies are hard!”
“Because cars are seen as more of a male only pursuit, it’s got more respect form the outer world than fashion has. Anything that women are perceived to be into is just seen as a little bit crap compared to other things. And so until we psych get over this idea that if women are into it, it’s a bit B grade [...] and until we have more of the female gaze on to the car industry, it’s just not going to happen – where you’re treating women the same as men.”
“It’s a big deal to try and shift the way that people think about cars and women.”
“I wanted car content about how a car makes you feel and what it says about your life. I think there’s a more experiential way of communicating with women.”
“It didn’t occur to me that I didn’t belong there”
Nicole Melillo Shaw:
“Never considered having a career in the auto industry, not even on my radar … I wanted to do something different and my main thing when I was looking at the next opportunity was finding something that had a synergy with my passions –so, a brand that appeals to family, that is rooted in something really strong, something I could resonate with.”
“Organised at work, come home and then you miss some of that.”
“There will be some men who will go ‘thank you for asking that, because I’m not really interested in cars, but I am interested in that question.’”
“As soon as the opportunity came up at Volvo, it was exactly that – so yes, it’s a car. That was almost of a byproduct for me, it was more around what the brand stood for. I still feel today, really proud for what we do as a brand and how we make sure we bring everybody on the journey.”
“We need to think about consumers first and then cars.”
“I think the equality and the way that the Swedes operate is so different and that translates.”
“When I announced my pregnancy, the first question that came from the central team was ‘who is taking the time off?’ We would never ask that in the UK, we would just assume it was you as the woman.”
“3 out of 4 women hate going into a dealership”
“There’s a definite, with women, a fear of speaking up and being authentic, especially in a more male dominated world – it’s harder to say what you think.”
“If you feel you are different, that’s the magic, that’s the power. Legacy automotive with fresh thinking – that’s’ the magic.”
“I don’t want anyone to think that hierarchy trumps you in your role as adding that value.”
“One of the single biggest reasons why women don’t choose you as a car manufacturer is because they don’t see other women behind the wheel of a car.”
“Definitely recruit more women into our retailers but also, make sure they’re not in suits, make sure the reception desk isn’t as you walk in, so you get the chance to browse, and no one jumps on you.”
“Number one thing for me is ask for what you want. […] we tend to think we’ve said it but we’ve only implied it. I think that’s what we need to do more of – ask.”
Auto Trader’s new podcast Women in the driving seat releases new episodes every Thursday.
Notes to editors
About Erin Baker
Erin Baker is an award-winning motoring journalist and Editorial Director of Auto Trader. She writes a monthly driving column for Vogue, is a World Car of the Year judge, consults for Goodwood and hosts She's Electric, a national roadshow bringing women and electric cars together. Erin is passionate about narrowing the gender gap, both in the automotive industry itself and between car brands and female consumers, through more targeted language, marketing and experiences. She is a divorced mother of two boys.
About Jo Elvin
Jo is an editor, TV presenter, podcast host and formerly the award-winning editor of magazines Glamour and You. She lives in London with her husband, daughter and dog and can usually be found in a garishly-coloured pair of trousers that she has tagged on Instagram as clothesmyhusbandhates
About NICOLE MELILLO SHAW
Nicole is Managing Director of Volvo Car UK. She has worked for the car brand for 5 years, starting in Consumer & Commercial Director roles, before being made MD in November 2023. Her background before Volvo was in Brand & Marketing roles within the healthcare and FMCG industry. In her spare time, she spends as much time as she can with her husband and two young daughters and doesn’t believe women can have it all (not simultaneously anyway!)
About Auto Trader
Auto Trader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive platform. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Auto Trader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Auto Trader is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, it aims to build stronger partnerships with its customers and use its voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices.
With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock, Auto Trader’s marketplace sits at the heart of the UK car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
Auto Trader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. The same data that powers the Index is used by the Office for National Statistics to make the UK’s official measures of inflation more robust, as well as the Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.
For more information, please visit: plc.autotrader.co.uk
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