Audi runs ‘Scrap Girl Cars’ in Auckland

Audi invites visitors to its Westfield Newmarket showroom to this month change an electric Audi RS e-tron GT from pink to black as part of Audi Global’s Living Progress strategy.

It wants people to participate in scrapping outdated stereotypes around the types of cars young girls play with, running the “Scrap Girl Cars” interactive experience for most of June.

Hailed as a world first installation, the Westfield Newmarket Audi event invites Kiwis to work towards driving a more progressive future and make their mark, literally, against outdated stereotypes.

“Scrap Girl Cars” asks Kiwis to reflect on the fact that toy cars for girls are often pink “fantasy cars”, coated in stereotypical floral or glittery designs, instead of realistic dream cars they could actually drive in the future.

Visitors are invited to use black markers to write gender positive messages on an actual Audi RS e-tron GT, Audi’s very first fully electric high performance car, turning the car from stereotypical pink to black during the four weeks.

“Progress is part of Audi’s DNA, as is our commitment to gender equality, so it struck us that we needed to do something about the fact that, as a society, when it comes to toy cars, we are still perpetuating stereotypes,” says Audi New Zealand marketing manager Amy de Vries.

“Why are girls playing with fantasy cars, often pink in colour, that don’t actually exist in real life?

“We know through our interaction with customers that women are passionate about performance cars, but there is a disconnect from a young age with unrealistic toy cars for girls. We all have the ability to influence the future, so our installation is a visual demonstration of that,” de Vries explains.

“We’re inviting anyone of any gender, who wants to break this stereotype to join us in turning our top of the range e-tron GT from pink to black.”

Research published in the Transportation Research Journal in 2011, which looks at the behavourial and psychological aspects of traffic and transport, studied adolescents aged from 10 to 16 and looked at gender stereotyping associated with vehicle driving.

The results showed that gender stereotyping associated with vehicles and driving starts as young as age 10, especially around toy cars available for purchase for boys, compared to those targeted towards girls.

Audi signed female rally driver Michele Mouton to the Audi quattro team in 1981, the first women to be signed by an automotive brand as the lead driver. She went on to win the Rallye Sanremo in her first year with Audi, smashing stereotypes and forging a path for women in motorsport.

Mouton later became the first president of the FIA’s Women and Motor Sport Commission in 2010 and the FIA’s manager in the World Rally Championship in 2011.

The brand also recently partnered with Janelle Monáe, one of the most vibrant personalities in music, film and TV who uses her celebrity status to drive social and gender equality.

Monáe is also the founder of ‘Fem the Future”, an organisation empowering women to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, where they are typically under represented. Monáe continues to work as a brand ambassador for Audi and further drive the “Living Progress” mantra throughout the brand partnership.

Audi’s Scrap Girl Cars can be found at Westfield Newmarket, Shop S150 Level 1, until June 28.

All visitors to the activation will also have the chance to go in the draw to win tickets to the Audi Ice Experience at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds, near Wanaka, in August.

Guests will have the opportunity there to drive Audi’s RS e-tron GT, the same car involved in the activation.