A recent Jalopnik article asked its readers, “What’s the Most Hot Girl Car?” I couldn’t help but wonder what, exactly, was the answer this query was looking for. Was Jalopnik trying to determine what car, when driven by a woman, qualifies her as ‘hot?’ Or was it, in fact, requesting its readers to name the hottest car among female drivers?
Historically, the auto industry has featured advertising which features a ‘hot’ women posed next to a vehicle as a means to lure the male consumer. The implication is that driving such a car will attract the type of sexy woman a man couldn’t win over on his own. The measure of a car’s hotness can also be determined by the nature of the woman who drives it. For example, a 2007 Cadillac GTS commercial featuring Kate Walsh famously asked, ‘when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?’ The question equated the thrill of driving a Cadillac to that of a sexual encounter with a beautiful woman. In each of these representations, women’s assumed preference for a particular automobile marked the woman, and the car with which she was associated, as ‘hot’.
Asking the readers to name the hottest car among female drivers, on the other hand, was a question that could be answered by looking at marketing studies that ranked car purchases by gender. It didn’t seem like the kind of request a magazine that caters to a young and often skeptical demographic that prefers an irreverent, humorous, and often critical take on the automotive industry would, in fact, make.
As neither of these answers seemed to suffice, I relied on ChatGPT, the preferred research instrument of the auto site’s target audience: young adults, the majority male, under 30 years of age. When I posed the question, ‘what is a hot girl car?’ to the popular AI tool, the answer wasn’t at all what I was expecting.
According to the collected sources, a hot girl car is an informal, often humorous, slang term to describe a vehicle that exudes a fun, stylish, or confident vibe, frequently associated with trendy, independent, or unapologetically stylish young women. The term is not presented in a derogatory manner; rather, it lists the traits of the hot girl car as stylish or cute, compact or sporty, well-kept or accessorized, and associated with urban, fashion-forward, or lifestyle branding. A hot girl car exudes confidence, elan, or a ‘let’s go on an adventure’ attitude. The vehicles most often associated with this label are the Mazda Miata, Mini Cooper, Fiat 500, VW Beetle, or for the adventurous types, the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco Sport.
What struck me about this answer was its similarity to the definition of the ‘chick car,’ a term that became popular during the early 2000s. In an article published in 2012, I described the chick car as a type of vehicle favored by women that was small, quick, stylish, and fun to drive. Unlike the hot girl car, however, the chick car was considered inferior by the male contingent for its association with the woman driver. As I wrote, ‘Women’s attraction to a particular automobile causes members of the male population to question the car’s technology. […] The assumption that women lack technical expertise creates a reverse kind of logic in the minds of many male consumers. They believe that since women cannot appreciate the finer technical characteristics of a car, such as power, handling, and performance, the cars women purchase must be technologically deficient. Women’s approval, in the minds of many men, leads to the devaluation of the car.’[1] The male constituency of auto makers, journalists of that time often disparaged the chick car, referring to it as “the kind of car no manly man would be caught dead driving.”[2]
However, based on the Jalopnik article responses, that sentiment has evolved. The author of the article, Amber DaSilva, invited her readers to ‘think up your definition of a hot girl, and pair that girl with the car that fits her best. What’s the most hot girl car you can buy?’ Many of the vehicles I defined as chick cars – Beetles, Minis, Miatas, and Golf Cabriolets – were included as bona fide hot girl cars. Jeeps, classic muscle cars, and anything-with-a-stick-shit also made the list. And although the majority of responders were male, they were not regarding the car choices, or the women who made them, in a pejorative way. Rather, they were admiring the women for their automotive preferences; i.e. the choice in itself awarded some hotness. Granted, the readership of Jalopnik skews more left than the majority of car magazines, but I found it encouraging to see that most of posters – while having a little fun – did not disrespect young female drivers. And as the writer defined herself as a hot girl herself, the question – and the responses – were all made it a lighthearted, convivial manner.
As I noted over a decade ago, despite the attempts of male journalists and drivers to disparage the chick car, women embraced the category and made it their own. As I asserted, ‘to the women who drive them, the chick car represents personal freedom, independence, agency, and a whole lot of fun.’[3]It is heartening to know that young people today – men and women alike – embrace the chick/hot girl car a means to adventure, identity, and empowerment.
[1] Chris Lezotte. “The Evolution of the ‘Chick Car’: Which Came First, the Chick or the Car?” The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45 No 3 2012, 525.
[2] Quote from John McElroy, host of Autoline Detroit.
[3] Lezotte, Chick Car, 529.
