Studies show that women make at least half of all car-purchasing decis

Question

Studies show that women make at least half of all car-purchasing decisions. Women notice details that men don’t; for example, women notice drink holders and a back seat that allows them to reach children in child seats. Women are more likely to choose cars based on environmental friendliness. Only a few car models have been designed with women in mind, but these vehicles outsell others by a huge margin.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information in this passage?

•(A) More car manufacturers should work to reduce emissions from their vehicles instead of building large, gas-guzzling vehicles.
Explanation: IRRELEVANT

•(B) Most purchasers of minivans are women who drive their children to multiple places and thus appreciate the size, safety, and convenience of minivans.
Explanation: So what? This option diverts us from the crux of the question. Passage says vehicles designed with women in mind outsell others by a huge margin and this option talks about a reason behind why women go for Minivan. - INCORRECT

•(C) All car manufacturers should conduct careful market research to determine what their customers want in vehicles.
Explanation: Customers include both male & female - INCORRECT

•(D) Car manufacturers that design cars according to female tastes can earn larger profits than those who do not.
Explanation: Vehicle designed with women in mind outsell others by a huge margin. Hence if a company wants to increase their profits, it has to design vehicles that attracts female clients. - CORRECT

•(E) Because station wagons were very popular with women in the 1970s and 1980s, car manufacturers should make more station wagons to maximize profits.
Explanation: Station wagons were popular among women in 1970's and 1980's but the requirements might have changed drastically over the years. Hence we cannot determine whether it strongly supports or not. - INCORRECT.

Hence answer is D

aditya8062 · Answer

i selected D  :  Car manufacturers that design cars according to female tastes can earn larger profits than those who do not

based on the argument only D seems plausible

reasoning : women's decisions in buying car has been shown paramount .this has been substantiated by :  Only a few car models have been designed with women in mind, but these vehicles outsell others by a huge margin. ----->the only reasonable inference that can be drawn fro this is that : Car manufacturers that design cars according to female tastes  can  earn larger profits than those who do not -------> notice the mild word "CAN" .the writer is just pointing at the possibility and not the confirmation of the stated fact .

ALSO all other choices are actually wrong . i will rather discuss E (in case this was your contender)

E says  :  Because station wagons were very popular with women in the 1970s and 1980s, car manufacturers  should  make more station wagons to  maximize profits  -----> if something was popular in 70's among women does not validate that it is still popular among them !! .ALSO  "should"  and  "maximize"  are very wrong

itzmyzone911 · Answer

Hi aditya8062,

Your reasoning based on the interpretation of CAN as just 'a possibility' instead of 'a certainity' seems too good to be overruled. I appreciate that. Well if this is the reason for considering D, then might as well it be the right ans.

I was split between C and D. Partially because CAN in D seemed to me to be extreme. In a scenario where, there are 80 out of 100 cars are being sold as per female tastes but total profit margin is less than the total profit margin of the remaining 20 cars, then option D stands to be ruled out, I suppose...bearing this scenario in mind I had ruled out D...but coming again the answer D may hold if the connotation of CAN, as you have pointed out, points out to a 'possible event' and not a 'certain event'.

Just for further clarification, why does C not hold? I mean, is too general?

aditya8062 · Answer

C seems way too wrong .

C says:   All  car manufacturers  should  conduct careful market research to determine what their  customers  want in vehicles

in the passage we are talking about  "women decision's"  being paramount .on the other hand C talks about "customers" ,no good

ALSO  "ALL"  is too wrong . 
ALSO  "conducting research"  is not close to what is being discussed in passage

technoholic · Answer

D is the correct answer because it clearly takes into account the statement that the cars designed as per the tastes of women far outsell the other models & hence the car manufactures could earn handsome profits if they followed the same model going forward.

vinnisatija · Answer

I am not very convinced with D. How are we sure that if the car manufacturers sell more cars then they are bound to have greater profits than those who dont.

Experts please advise

rohan89 · Answer

if you sell more cars, then u r bound to earn more profit. This is what is implied from the information given in the passage.

arhumsid · Answer

I too had problem with the word 'Profit' in choice C. I in fact, overruled C in the first parse. But only chose it at the end because there was no better answer.

Profit

Profit depends on a lot of other things. Increase sales do not guarantee Profit. It would have been convincing if it were 'Revenues'. 
What if designing cars according to women's tastes increase the cost of cars to an extent that it overruns the selling price of a car, OR to be lenient, decreases the profit?

The term 'Profits' mostly raise eyebrows when it appears in a CR question.

Looking for some inputs.

Thanks!

rohan89 · Answer

What their customers want is already sort of specified in the argument. ( child's safety, holders, etc) So doing a market survey wont help you in any definite way because the company would be spending time in knowing what they already know. Option D says, the company CAN earn profits. It does not say WILL earn profit. You said yourself that profit does not depend on one particular thing, but it neither is impossible.

Hope that helps.

ravikrishna1979 · Answer

I totally agree that D is not Correct. May be the cars that prepare based on women interest could be very costly to build and sell at lower profit , so when more no.of such vehicles are purchased there may not be loss but not also of big profits.

In fact B clearly says minivans are mostly purchased by women which is almost nearly matching what has been told in the last sentence of argument.

•(B) Most purchasers of minivans are women who drive their children to multiple places and thus appreciate the size, safety, and convenience of minivans.

sayantanc2k · Answer

This is inference type question - from the facts given in the passage, one must be able to conclude one of the options given.

There is nothing mentioned about minivans in the passage, therefore one cannot conclusively determine that women are the biggest purchasers of minivans. Hence option B is wrong.

It is true that high sales may not imply profit, but if such vehicle "outsell" others, it is probably true that the demand for such vehicles is higher and thus the manufacturers of these vehicles CAN make profits, if they make correct decisions in marketing strategy, production planning and other critical factors - the passage states an advantage of these vehicles and it is possible to exploit this advantage to earn profit. In option D, the word "can" depicts this possibility, and hence D is the correct option.

abhimahna · Answer

To add on to your point, we are also given that these rarer manufactures outsell with great "MARGIN", implying they could generate more profits compared to others.

Donnie84 · Answer

In my opinion, this question is debatable and option D is a stretch.
In this context, the word margin does not imply profits. It means there is a huge difference in number of cars sold.

Joc456 · Answer

I feel that D could only be right if it said earn more revenue, not profit. Or the promt would've had to include something about it costing the same to add these features.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Yes, you are right. However among the options provided, D is by far the best (in spite of the use of the word "profit" rather than the word "revenue"). Please take a look at this explanation: studies-show-that-women-make-at-least-half-of-all-car-purchasing-decis-180912.html#p1730529

ArjunJag1328 · Answer

Studies show that women make at least half of all car-purchasing decisions. Women notice details that men don’t; for example, women notice drink holders and a back seat that allows them to reach children in child seats. Women are more likely to choose cars based on environmental friendliness. Only a few car models have been designed with women in mind, but these vehicles outsell others by a huge margin.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information in this passage?

•(A) More car manufacturers should work to reduce emissions from their vehicles instead of building large, gas-guzzling vehicles.
Explanation:  IRRELEVANT

•(B) Most purchasers of minivans are women who drive their children to multiple places and thus appreciate the size, safety, and convenience of minivans.
 Explanation: So what? This option diverts us from the crux of the question. Passage says vehicles designed with women in mind outsell others by a huge margin and this option talks about a reason behind why women go for Minivan. - INCORRECT
 
•(C) All car manufacturers should conduct careful market research to determine what their customers want in vehicles.
 Explanation: Customers include both male & female - INCORRECT
 
•(D) Car manufacturers that design cars according to female tastes can earn larger profits than those who do not.
 Explanation: Vehicle designed with women in mind outsell others by a huge margin. Hence if a company wants to increase their profits, it has to design vehicles that attracts female clients. - CORRECT

•(E) Because station wagons were very popular with women in the 1970s and 1980s, car manufacturers should make more station wagons to maximize profits.
 Explanation: Station wagons were popular among women in 1970's and 1980's but the requirements might have changed drastically over the years. Hence we cannot determine whether it strongly supports or not. - INCORRECT.

Hence answer is D

VerbalBot · Answer

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Studies show that women make at least half of all car-purchasing decis

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Studies show that women make at least half of all car-purchasing decis

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