Cosmo Angers Women with New Car Design

Automologist, MAC, thinks that this should have been called the SEAT Cringe-worthy Mii. 

In the world of cringe-worthy design concepts, SEAT may have sunk to a new low with the launch of a car specifically designed with women in mind. The Spanish-based but VW-owned car company, SEAT, teamed up with Cosmopolitan Magazine to design the vehicle and over eighteen months, the two companies have thrashed out a design which, like so many editions of Cosmo, is pretty but lacks substance. The press release goes as far as saying that the ”headlights have an eyeliner shape” and “Your car is a place for impromptu karaoke performances, last-minute wardrobe changes, dramatic gossip sessions and emergency lunch-hour kips. So it makes sense that you’d want it to feel personal and special - as if it were designed just for you”. And of course no self-respecting hairy-chested man has done or would ever do any of those things in a car...right?

SEAT chose London Fashion Week to launch the SEAT Mii by Cosmopolitan, where they waxed lyrical about the champagne-coloured wing mirrors and bejewelled wheels, and the ease of parking, and of course those eyeliner-shaped headlights and the purple or white colour scheme - What? No pink option? So much for the need for speed as well; the Mii puts out a very underpowered 75 horsepower, just about enough to feel a slight breeze through your impeccably coiffured hair. To lump insult onto injury, Cosmo described the car as a woman’s ticket to freedom. And there I was thinking that education or equal pay would be higher on the list than a substandard compact car, with barely enough power to get out of its own way. 

So far, the public reaction to the somewhat sexist offering from SEAT has been angry, particularly after Cosmo surrounded the car with super skinny models at the launch. One netizen went as far as tweeting: “A car marketed to women advertised like just about all others in history by standing models around it!” Right on, sister.

Super skinny models….really!

So, what else is this car going to have that women find indispensable? A lifetime supply of roses or an emergency supply of tampons? Will the visor mirror have halo-lighting so the application of make-up will be easier or will the pedals be so positioned to make driving in high heels possible? Frankly, all of this seems to be a very large step backwards for Cosmo that has tried to rebrand itself from the rag that glamorised blowjobs to a more serious news and current affairs publication.

Prices have not been announced yet, but then again, why would they? The target market for this car would obviously go running to daddy to purchase it for them...

Really, Cosmo, come into the twenty-first century, please, and if you choose to do so, here are some facts you may like to appraise yourselves of: in every age group in the US of A, women hold more driving licenses than men; 80% of car purchasing decisions are, in effect, decided by women; women spend more time researching vehicles than men, and have a longer list of requirements than their hairy-chested partners. Sheeeesh! 

If it is designed for women, then why is the man driving it?