“I’ve always been interested in cars, but we didn’t have the ability to drive,” said Ghada al-Ali on Thursday. “And now I’m very interested in buying a car but I would like the payments and prices to not be very high.”

Women influence 80% to 85% of all automotive purchases and hold the majority of U.S. driver’s licenses, said Jody DeVere, founder of AskPatty.com, a website that offers auto resources for women and businesses. “The numbers don’t lie,” said DeVere, who has advised major brands, such as BMW, on how to better market to women. “Our industry knows how valuable women are, but they struggle to make the change and take the necessary steps.”

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, classic car ads have the most to say about women, and what they're saying is this: Women are attractive props. Anyone who wants to find a muscle car online will have to wade through dealership websites featuring young women draped over hoods or posed beside fenders. It's a digital form of what you'll see if you walk through any automotive trade show: men in polos walking the floor, booth babes in booty shorts plying brochures. Buy one, whispers the advertising, and you might snag the other, as if the two belong in the same category, the sexy object and the sex object.