Car choices: Men are from Italy, women are from Sweden

In a study result that surprises no one, it turns out that women prefer small cars and crossovers while men like Ferraris. At least according to TrueCar's annual report on the subject, that is.

Mini, Nissan, Kia and Honda models are purchased by women about 45 percent of the time. Men are overwhelmingly the buyers of vehicles, leading to the sub-50 percent number.

Ferrari, Bentley, Maserati and Porsche vehicles are usually purchased by men. More than 92 percent of Ferrari buyers are men, 83.4 percent for Bentley, 82.8 percent for Maserati and 76.5 percent for Porsche.

“While gender preferences amongst the buyers of various automotive brands still exist, the gap is narrowing,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence at TrueCar.com. “The SUV and truck-heavy mix of the domestic automakers continue to generate a disproportionate number of male customers, while the exotic brands remain to be the best medicine for a midlife crisis.”

Women also seem to prefer imports more than men do, though the pickup truck market skews the numbers. Sixteen of the top 20 brands with the highest percentage of female buyers were foreign, while only 11 of the top 20 were imports on the men's side.

What does this tell us? Well, women are stepping into dealerships far more often than they used to. They're also a bit more prudent with their vehicle purchases than men. The Volkswagen Beetle is no longer the top car for percentage of female buyers; that honor goes to the Volvo S40. Men will have to make due with the Porsche 911.

The full list from TrueCar is below:

Top Female Purchases in 2011

Make & Model % Female

Volvo S40 57.9%

Nissan Rogue 56.9%

Volkswagen Eos 56.4%

Volkswagen Beetle 54.6%

Hyundai Tucson 54.0%

Honda CR-V 53.4%

Toyota RAV4 53.0%

Nissan Juke 52.7%

Jeep Compass 52.7%

Nissan Versa 52.2%

Nissan Sentra 52.0%

Lexus IS 51.8%

Toyota Corolla 51.8%

Mazda CX-7 51.2%

Mitsubishi Eclipse 50.9%

Acura RDX 50.5%

Infiniti EX 50.4%

Toyota Yaris 50.4%

Volkswagen Tiguan 50.3%

Subaru Forester 50.2%

Dodge Caliber 50.1%

Top Male Purchases in 2011

Make & Model % Male

Porsche 911 88.2%

GMC Sierra 87.5%

Ford F-Series 87.0%

Chevrolet Corvette 86.9%

Chevrolet Silverado 86.4%

BMW M3 85.1%

Audi S4 84.7%

Audi A8 84.4%

Cadillac Escalade EXT 84.3%

Maserati GranTurismo 84.3%

Toyota Tundra 84.1%

Ram 1500 84.0%

BMW 550 83.5%

Toyota Tacoma 82.8%

Chevrolet Colorado 82.5%

Chevrolet Avalanche 82.4%

GMC Canyon 82.4%

Ram Dakota 82.0%

Audi A7 81.5%

Porsche Cayman 81.4%

BMW 750 81.3%

By Jake Lingeman