Today I’m driving a pink sparkle Toyota hybrid SUV around Koh Samui, and the irony is almost too much.

Ten years reviewing cars.
Dozens of press trips.
Supercars, SUVs, luxury limos.

And yet not one luxury car brand has ever said:
“Gracie, here’s a press car spec’d deliberately for a female driver. Here’s the colour women are secretly (and not so secretly) craving. Here’s something Barbie-level bold to match your personality and your audience.”

Not once.

In 2025, I had to rent a pink sparkle Toyota in Thailand to get the kind of car that actually reflects my own taste – and the taste of so many women who message me saying, “Why are all the press cars grey?”

So the question is: why are female journalists still treated as a minority sideshow in the car press industry – even when we’ve proven, over a decade, that women read, click, share, buy and drive?

Contents show

A Decade In the Game – Still Not Seen as the Driver

Gracie Opulanza didn’t just “fall into” cars. She pioneered car reviews from a female, lifestyle-driven perspective.

My car content has never been just horsepower and torque figures. It’s always been:

  • What does it feel like to pull up to a five-star hotel in this car?
  • Can I drive it in heels, or am I doing accidental calf workouts at every red light?
  • Is there space for suitcases, kids, shopping bags, and that one extra pair of boots I “didn’t” need?
  • Does the interior colour make me feel powerful – or like I’m sitting in a corporate rental?

I brought fashion, hotels and lifestyle into car reviews long before it was trendy. I showed that a car can be part of a story – a road trip, a relationship, a wardrobe, a life.

And yet, even with all that, the majority of press cars offered to me over the years?
Safe. Neutral. Boring.
Black, white, grey, maybe a navy blue if someone was feeling “wild”.

Not once did I get an email saying:
“Gracie, we’ve got a limited-edition colourway that screams female empowerment. We want you to tell that story.”

The Car Industry Still Designs for Him, Then Says “It’s Unisex”

The industry loves to insist: “We don’t think in gender, our cars are for everyone.”
That sounds nice. It also conveniently maintains the status quo.

Because “everyone” usually means:

  • The male gaze in the marketing.
  • The male fantasy in the performance story.
  • The male assumption in the spec: dark exterior, dark interior, aggressive rims, “stealth” vibe.

Women are then expected to adapt.
To see themselves in campaigns that were never designed with them in mind.
To buy into cars that whisper “boy’s toy” from every angle.

And when a woman does ask for colour, sparkle, fun, individuality?
She’s treated like she’s asking for something frivolous.

Yet here I am, in a pink glitter Toyota hybrid, getting:

  • Double takes at traffic lights.
  • Smiles from other women.
  • Men asking, “Where did you get that? My wife would love it.”

So clearly the appetite is there. The market exists.
What’s missing is the courage from brands to commit.

“But Women Don’t Read Car Reviews” – Really?

This old excuse needs to retire.

Women absolutely read car content – they just don’t always recognise themselves in the way it’s written or shot.

If a review is:

  • Technical jargon,
  • Zero lifestyle context,
  • No mention of real-world use (shopping, school run, road trips, careers, comfort, safety from harassment, parking visibility)

…then of course a lot of women will scroll on. Not because they’re not interested in cars, but because they’re not interested in being spoken past.

Over the years, my audience has proven something that marketing departments pretend not to see: when you talk about cars in a human way – style, emotion, daily life, identity – women engage.

They comment on:

  • Seat comfort on long drives.
  • Whether the boot fits prams, pets, and shopping.
  • Visibility when parking at night, alone.
  • How the car makes them feel when they step out of it.

That’s not “fluffy”. That’s real purchasing behaviour.

You Can’t Claim Inclusion While Keeping Control of the Keys

Another uncomfortable truth: featuring women in campaigns is easy.
Giving women control is harder.

I’ve seen brands do this a lot:

  • Use female models in the ads.
  • Put a woman in the passenger seat for the photoshoot.
  • Invite one token female journalist per event – then ignore her questions in favour of the usual male voices.

What’s much rarer?

  • Giving a woman the hero speced car as a long-term press loan.
  • Letting a female journalist lead the narrative for a launch.
  • Asking women what colours, trims, and options they’d actually choose – and then building that car.

That’s why this pink sparkle Toyota hybrid feels radical – not because the car itself is extreme, but because it represents something the luxury world still refuses to do. It dares to say:

“Yes, this is unapologetically playful, feminine and fun – and it still deserves respect on the road.”

Imagine that attitude applied to a Bentley, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Porsche SUV.
Imagine a Barbie-core spec, given on purpose, to a female journalist, to speak to female buyers.

Still waiting.

2025 and Still a Minority in the Press List

In 2025, female voices in the car press are still treated as niche, exotic, “nice to have”.

  • We’re invited last.
  • We’re asked lifestyle questions instead of technical ones.
  • We’re pigeonholed as “beauty and fashion” when we dare talk about aesthetics.

But here’s the reality: for years, I’ve been blending all of it – cars, fashion, hotels, interiors, travel – into one ecosystem. Because that’s how women actually live.

A woman who books a five-star hotel, packs designer heels, and chooses a statement handbag is exactly the kind of woman who will choose a car as part of her identity. She may not care about 0–100 km/h as much as:

  • How easily she can park it alone at night.
  • Whether the interior feels like a cocoon, not a cockpit.
  • Whether the colour sparks joy, not just resale value.

Why is that voice still treated as secondary?

The Sparkly SUV as a Quiet Rebellion

So here I am, in Koh Samui, in a pink sparkle Toyota hybrid SUV that I sourced myself. Not through a PR department, not as part of a polished press campaign, but as a woman who knows what kind of car she wants to be seen in.

It’s my quiet rebellion against a decade of black, grey and “press white”.

This car says:

  • I want sustainability (hybrid).
  • I want fun (sparkle).
  • I want personality (pink).
  • I want to be seen – not just as a passenger, but as the driver.

It’s a reminder that women are not waiting for permission from the industry. We’re renting, buying, speccing, wrapping, customising the cars we want without brand approval.

The tragedy for the luxury world is this: they could have led this shift, owned it, and profited from it. Instead, many are still pretending that “real” car people only come in one gender, one mood board, one colour palette.

So What Needs to Change?

If the car press world truly wants to evolve in 2025 and beyond, it needs to go far beyond tokenism.

Here’s what that looks like:

  • Female-led specs
    Not just “offering” women whatever is left in the fleet. Create specs with female journalists and customers, then give those cars proper PR budgets and visibility.
  • Lifestyle-integrated storytelling
    Cars don’t just live on tracks; they live in cities, villages, school car parks, hotel entrances, and coastal roads. Let female journalists lead that narrative.
  • Braver colours and interiors
    Enough with the fear of colour. Not every car has to be pink, but every range should have bold, joyful options that speak to more than one type of driver.
  • Real collaboration, not decoration
    Don’t just put women in campaigns – put them in decision-making. On design panels, on press invite lists, on the stage at launches.

The Debate Isn’t About Pink. It’s About Power.

People will say, “It’s just a colour. Who cares if the press car is pink or not?”

But this isn’t really about pink.
It’s about who gets listened to.
Who gets seen as a serious voice.
Who gets to define what a “driver” looks like.

The fact that, in 2025, a female journalist with ten years of car-review experience still hasn’t been handed a press car that reflects her voice and her audience… tells you everything about where the power still sits.

So I’ll keep driving my pink sparkle Toyota hybrid around Koh Samui.
I’ll keep writing from a female perspective.
I’ll keep blending cars, fashion, hotels and lifestyle – because that’s what my readers relate to.

And to the car brands still clinging to the old playbook?

The road is changing.
The drivers are changing.
If you don’t want to hand over the keys to women like me, that’s fine.

We’re already finding our own way.