New Delhi: There are as many jokes about women and cars as there are about women and maps. But in reality, more and more women are looking to turn their need for mobility into an aspirational choice.

They may not yet be a large enough segment for car marketers to target them separately. But if some latest data from car market leader Maruti is anything to go by, women could soon turn into a significant target niche in the passenger car business.

Maruti's experience with its three pilot driving schools across the country has thrown up a clear trend: more and more women are queuing up to learn driving. According to data collated by the company, women comprise a good 57% of all enrolments and their percentile is higher than the male components in three locations -- Bangalore, Kollam and Chandigarh.

In Bangalore, women trainees comprise 51% of the total student strength; in Kollam they comprise 63% and in Chandigarh the femme factor is highest at 65% of the total class.Predictably the highest percentile of women students are housewives (39%) with office-goers (31%) and students (23%) bringing up the rest of the roster. With men, a whopping 66% are from the service background with students (13%) and retired people (10%) bringing up the rear.

Interestingly, there are more women students lining up for a driving licence than there are men, in percentage terms. Maruti's data shows the gender break-up in the students category: 23% women and 13% men. In contrast, service is totally dominated by men (66%) and in business they are half-way ahead at 11% (women comprise 5%). Among retired trainees, males make up 10% while females are a mere 2%.

Clearly the trend of women queuing up for a driving licence is more widespread among the younger lot that's more comfortable with the concept of independent mobility.

According to the Maruti data, the 20-30 year age group saw the highest number of women in the training classes. The percentile of women in the 21-25 years age group was 18. In addition another 18% of all women trainees were in the 26-30 years age group.

The 31-35 years bracket comprised another 16% while the 36-40 years age group was 12%, the same as the 18-20 years category. The stats also show that young, working women are more comfortable with the idea of independent mobility and are clearly aspiring for personalised vehicle usage.

Younger girls, on the other hand, still face too much pressure at home on security grounds and the entire trend is fairly nebulous when it comes to older, 40-plus women, working or otherwise.

The good news also is the high number of house wives in the training pool. At 24%, housewives are the second largest occupation category in the training schools after service which commands 44%. Students at 19% make up the third biggest occupation category.

Car marketers feel the trend clearly shows that more urban families are looking at the option of dual vehicles, even if they are not necessarily double-income households. For marketers, that data provides an opportunity of not just replacement demand but a brand new market as increasing households opt for a second car in their garage.

Also interesting is the fairly high percentile of 40-plus trainees in the total pool. According to the stats, the above-45 years olds are the second largest demographic in the training schools after the 26-30-year olds. In other words, the chauffeur culture seems to be making way for independent mobility even in the 40-plus age profile. Though clubbed together, the 26-35 years category commands an overwhelming majority in the training schools.

While 26-30 year olds comprise 22%, 31-35 year olds command another 15% of the total number of students in these driving schools. Which means for car marketers, their bread and butter is still the 25-35 year old office-goer.

At least for now. Auto industry sources, though, say the reason why the business community has such a humble share of the total pool in the training school stats is because of that segment's greater dependence on the chauffeur culture.

More office-goers are likely to drive themselves to work than businessmen, whether male or female.

Maruti has announced that it will set up driving schools in 15 cities across India this year. These schools will be modelled on international training centres and the curriculum will include classroom training, practical training and training in attitude and road behaviour as well.

The schools will be equipped with simulators which will familiarise students with the car's controls as well as the kind of traffic conditions expected on Indian roads.

Maruti isn't the only autoco to run training schools though its the only one in the car space. Truckmaker Ashok Leyland also runs similar outfits, as does Volvo.