Girls car

What's the difference between a girl's room and a boy's room? The girl's room (of course) smells better, is warmer and neater, but most of all it is full of cute knick-knacks, fluffy animals, and little hearts and flowers.

This though is not this cute Japanese girl's room...it's her car!

IHT

Ayano Sasao is defying the conventional wisdom that cars targeted to a niche consumer category like young women are doomed to fail. The 18-year-old Japanese hospital worker just bought the Nissan Pino, a toylike minicar just 3.4 meters (11 feet) long with star-stamped upholstery, a hook for a handbag and a chic "milk tea beige" exterior — although she says she almost went with the pink. "It's so cute. I just love it," she said.

To make sure women like Sasao get the message, Nissan Motor Co. launched a merchandise line for Pino, including pink bear-shaped cushions, seat covers with hearts, a CD case that looks like fat red lips, and a colorful cover for a tissue box. Ironically, Pino isn't even made by Nissan, Japan's third biggest automaker. It's made by Suzuki Motor Inc.

But under a manufacturing agreement, Nissan packages Suzuki's Alto model differently, with fancier seat fabric, a distinct front design and a hubcap inspired by a snowflake so the wheels appear to sparkle on the road — all touches to give the car that cute look. Nissan had 5,500 orders for the Pino in the first month since it went on sale in January, more than double the company target of 2,500 a month.

And in most countries, experts tend to advise against making autos pink or adding other "cute" features to appeal to female drivers partly because that may smack of sexism and turn off women — except in Japan. Here, young women are extremely powerful in setting trends, and the culture of cute is so prevalent grown men aren't embarrassed about dangling little mascots from cell phones.

Even the advertising for Pino is tailored to women who are about 20 years old. The pamphlet is manga-style, like a Japanese comic book, depicting the story of three young well-ressed women going shopping together, manicuring their nails to match the star-patterns on Pino seats, using aromatherapy oils in the car. The TV ads also tell a similar story.

Well that's woman power! In the US it's well known that women buy more cars, or at least drive the purchase of cars in families. The Nissan Pino was introduced to the Japanese market last January and it alone has pushed the sales of Nissan's mini-vehicles by 11%. Many of Japan's unique 660cc minicars are in fact designed with women in mind, and in a booming mini sector that hit a record 2.02 million units in 2006 (for a more than 35 percent total market share), it’s no surprise that automobile manufacturers are catering to the female market.



The 660cc Nissan Pino comes in many pretty colors (antique rose, bright red, lime green, beige, etc.) and it has an interior air filter to keep the air inside the car clean....so girly! But more seriously the car is powered by three-cylinder DOHC 12-valve K6A engine, which produces 53bhp power, and gives an awesome mileage of 21kpl (working out to over 40mpg). This very small car is 133.7 inches long and weighs 1609 pounds. Depending on whether one buys the 2WD model or the 4WD, the newest version of the Nissan Pino will cost between $11,800 and $12,800.