Step aside chocolates and oysters, a new survey reveals the car may be our new aphrodisiac. More than one in three Canadians (36 per cent), including almost 40 per cent of women and close to 50 per cent of young Canadians under 35 report driving a sexy car makes them feel more attractive. Findings from the new study were released today, and came from The CarCourting Report, commissioned by autoTRADER.ca and conducted among Angus Reid Forum panel members across Canada.
"Canadians really didn't hold back in this study, showing us that although choosing a car might seem like a wholly rational decision, emotion and even social implications are a major influence on Canadian car buyers," said Ian MacDonald, Director of Marketing, Trader Corporation. "We discovered that people not only judge others on the type of car they drive, they also internalize their choices - cars appear to be a key part of how we identify ourselves personally."
Case in point: a full 61 per cent of Canadians admitted they would even walk away from purchasing the car of their dreams if it wasn't the right colour! Moreover, 41 per cent believe people should drive cars that match their personality. This figure jumps to 47 per cent among young Canadians under 35 years of age for whom image is clearly a more important consideration. One in five Canadians even go as far as agreeing that people should drive cars that match their appearance.
Based on such personality matching, survey respondents assigned the following cars to some of our most-loved Canadian celebrities (based on the most popular vote):
- Ryan Gosling would be a macho Ford Mustang
- Shania Twain would be a stylish BMW 3 Series
- Wayne Gretzky would be an active Subaru Forester
- Pamela Anderson would be a status-seeking Porsche 911
- Alanis Morrissette would be an environmentally-friendly Toyota Prius
- Michael Bublé would share the limelight with Ms. Twain as a stylish BMW 3 Series