Back in the pre-politically-correct past, the motor advertising industry lived by the mantra of sex and cars and rock 'n' roll, with many ads following the "buy the car, get the bird" theme of models draped over bonnets and around wheels. These days one would expect such an approach to be laughed out of the ad company's boardroom, but there is still life in the old cliche yet.

Last year's shining example of this was the Citroen Xsara ad that featured Claudia Schiffer disrobing as she approached her beloved hatchback, before driving away wearing nothing more than a grin. Citroen claimed that the ad combined "style, subtlety and humour", saying that it was a joke. "She's someone famous for wearing clothes but she's happier wearing the car than the clothes," a spokesman said at the time.

However, the ad caused uproar among thousands of women. "Citroen showed it was out of touch by opting for sexist ads. They have about as much appeal as `go faster' stripes," says professor Garel Rhys of Cardiff Business School. Although most manufacturers have long recognised the fact that women played an important role in deciding which family car to buy, increasing numbers of them are getting behind the wheels of their own cars.

Rhys says that with women becoming the "biggest growth element" as far as cars are concerned, manufacturers are beginning to take notice of them and provide the kind of advertising that will appeal to them also. The most obvious way this can be seen is with the increasing number of ads such as Peugeot's Thelma and Louise series and one with the wild woman who threatens to trash her boyfriend's beloved guitar with her Fiat Punto, but even these may be misdirected. Women, it seems, are far more interested in miles to the gallon of petrol than in winning the sex war.

Research shows that more than eight out of 10 women want adverts to provide more information about the car, and 75 per cent of them want more realism rather than images of them as sexual objects or sexual aggressors. Rhys says it is these factors that advertisers should recognise and push more, as opposed to taking a patronising approach. "The industry should not try and identify women as women any more than they would identify old people as old people," he says. It's all very well having a strong sexual image if it helps to keep the car in a buyer's mind, but a successful ad will also highlight some of the features that appeal to both sexes.