Automobile Industry Women

When some people looking to buy a car walk into Tustin Acura, they are surprised to encounter Robin M. Saporito, who has been a saleswoman at the Orange County dealership for four months. A lot of them say they didn't know that women sold cars, Saporito said. But women are selling a lot of cars these days for a simple reason, according to a survey of new car buyers released Monday by J.D.

General Motors Corp.'s Saturn Corp. division on Monday named Cynthia M. Trudell chairman and president, making the 44-year-old executive one of the highest-ranking women in the auto industry. She succeeds the retiring Donald W. Hudler, who will lead Saturn Retail Enterprises, a newly formed unit that will own and operate some Saturn dealerships. Trudell becomes the third president in Saturn's 14-year history.

Detroit remains a man's world, with women making up fewer than 2% of top executives in the auto industry, according to the 1988 Who's Who guide to car companies. But beneath the ranks of the graying corporate elite, more and more women are following paths that will lead them to the industry's executive suites and board rooms, analysts say. Of the 966 top executives in the auto industry and supplier companies listed in a directory published this week, 16 were women.

When some people looking to buy a car walk into Tustin Acura, they are surprised to encounter Robin M. Saporito, who has been a saleswoman at the Orange County dealership for four months. A lot of them say they didn't know that women sold cars, Saporito said. But women are selling a lot of cars these days for a simple reason, according to a survey of new car buyers released Monday by J.D.

General Motors Corp.'s Saturn Corp. division on Monday named Cynthia M. Trudell chairman and president, making the 44-year-old executive one of the highest-ranking women in the auto industry. She succeeds the retiring Donald W. Hudler, who will lead Saturn Retail Enterprises, a newly formed unit that will own and operate some Saturn dealerships. Trudell becomes the third president in Saturn's 14-year history.

Detroit remains a man's world, with women making up fewer than 2% of top executives in the auto industry, according to the 1988 Who's Who guide to car companies. But beneath the ranks of the graying corporate elite, more and more women are following paths that will lead them to the industry's executive suites and board rooms, analysts say. Of the 966 top executives in the auto industry and supplier companies listed in a directory published this week, 16 were women.