Women represent 50 per cent of the drivers on the road and are said to decide the majority of vehicle purchases.
Yet when they get behind the wheel there is nowhere to put a purse.
“The male-dominated designers haven’t made it a priority,” said Sam Fiorani, an auto industry analyst with AutoForecast Solutions in Pottstown, Penn., and a car history buff.
That’s apparent to Peggy Worrell in Swift Current, Sask., who has experienced many moments of frustration about where to put a purse in her 40 years as a driver.
When the passenger seat isn’t available, she’s tried to wedge her purse in between her left leg and driver’s side door. But when the floor of her car becomes a slushy mess in winter, she winds up twisting awkwardly to access her purse in the backseat.
“And I swear I tore my rotator cuff doing that for so many years.”
But the rise of electric vehicles could usher in a better era for purses, laptop bags and all the other belongings we cart around with us in our cars. That’s because, with smaller motors and no transmission tunnel, there’s more room for designers to potentially devote to storage — particularly if consumers demand that they do.
Electric vehicles could make room
To Worrell, the obvious place for car designers to put a compartment big enough for a handbag is somewhere in the centre console.
“I don’t know why a driver needs two cup holders. Why couldn’t the passenger’s cup holder be on the right passenger door?” she said.
Fiorani said electric vehicles make that a lot easier to achieve.
“Modern electric vehicles have moved all the componentry around, so we have more storage space,” he said. “The battery is now under the floor in most vehicles, so it it it’s out of the way…. There’s now room to make a large cubby in the middle to put whatever you’re wanting.”
