The main draw of the VW Beetle over others is about its price and practicality, women are much more likely to purchase a Volkswagen Beetle than any other types or used vans or cars due to these factors.

Men on the other hand, prefer the more masculine trucks or expensive luxury sport vehicles, giving little considering to long term practical or financial benefits.

Although only 36 percent of new car buyers are women, they account for 56 percent of new Beetle owners.

“It fits the description of what women want in a car,” Truecar’s Jesse Toprak told ABCNews.com. “It’s cheap to maintain and own. It gets good gas mileage. It’s practical to get around in big cities yet it’s stylish to drive in hip metropolitan areas.”

In the men’s category, the study showed a predilection for big cars and big dreams.

In addition to bulky GM trucks, men also stated their preference for high-powered vehicles like the Bugatti and Ferrari (though how these guys plan on paying the $2 million price tag for that Bugatti is unclear!).

The study, conducted from 13 million car owners over the past two years, also showed that females prefer smaller vehicles such as the Volvo S40 and the Nissan Sentra.

Spurred by the demands for German luxury cars in China, a land where New and used vans with the German brand on them are already very popular, as well as the declining value of the Euro, European products are cheaper abroad. Manufacturers say they are no longer jarred by the economic slump, going as far to add extra shifts and hiring more workers to meet the increasing demand.

All the major manufactures such as Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW and Audi have all told The Associated Press this week that order books are filled and some plants are operating at full capacity. Which is a remarkable turnaround for an industry that last year had to take advantage of a government plan to reduce their workers’ hours to avoid large-scale layoffs.

For Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, China is already the single most important market for its cars and vans, with more growth on the horizon. Its first quarter sales alone rose by 48 percent to 777,800 units, the company said. That helped offset sales in Germany, where demand for the group’s Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda and Audi cars dipped by 12 percent to 436,900 units.

The bulk of growth for Volkswagen’s luxury brand Audi also lies in China, which is slated to become the brand’s most important market — even over the company’s home turf.

Volkswagen plans are to add the next generation vehicle in the form of the Phaeton sedan to the U.S. product line-up again, retracting another decision from earlier in the year.

As Europe’s largest auto maker, it also seeks to triple annual car and vans sales in the U.S. to one million a year by 2018, with the Audi AG premium brand accounting for 200,000 sales.

Although VW boom outside of the US, market penetration there will be challenging, and the fiercely competitive U.S. market is crucial for Volkswagen’s long-term expansion plan, which includes outpacing Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s largest auto maker.

Volkswagen has steered better through the industry gloom than most of its rivals, thanks mainly to a large presence in China and a strong foothold in Brazil, both strong in the new and used vans and cars area. Additionally, sales on its home turf were propped up last year by state-backed scrapping incentives. But Volkswagen’s turnaround efforts in the U.S. proved to be an uphill battle, which led the company to ramp up investments further.

Ramping up purchasing and production in the dollar-denominated countries is crucial for Volkswagen to make its U.S. operations profitable again and lower its exposure to currency fluctuations.

Car industry buffs claim that prices for used vehicles have increased anywhere between 10 and 15 percent from this time last year. According to Manheim Consulting, which tracks vehicle prices, the price for used vans has gone up more than 20 percent in the last year.

Fewer new cars have been sold over due to a recessive market, lowering the supply of late-model used cars or vans, which car hire and van hire agencies rely upon. The rental / car hire companies have been holding onto their fleets longer, which also cuts into the supply of used stock in circulation. The price increases is especially pronounced among later models.

Scott Lambert of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association says there is a bright side to the phenomenon.

“It’s good news for consumers as well because if you’re in the market for a new car, it means your trade-in is going to be worth a lot more than it might normally, so people should think about that as well,” he said.

Lambert said he expects used car prices to stay strong for the rest of 2010. As more new cars are sold, the supply of used cars will go up and drive prices down, he said.

This year the German car and vans manufacturer has gone on to take a 19.9 percent stake in Suzuki, as a little as several weeks ago a substantial 90 percent holding of Italdesign. Its list of buy outs and stalks is quickly becoming impressive with Skoda, SEAT, Bugatti, Porsche, Lamborghini and of course Audi also being on the list.

Unflinching, its next target might be a partnership with the Malaysian carmaker Proton. Hints in the Malaysian Edge Financial Daily of a possible partnership with Volkswagen.

“The outcome of the talks with Volkswagen will be made public in two weeks time. I don’t want to jump the gun,” Mohd Nazmi Mohd Salleh told the company’s annual meeting.

Volkswagen have tried to buy a stake in the Malaysian manufacturer before, but it fell through in 2007 over complications. Proton, is actually owned by the Malaysian government itself, and therefore holds an distinct advantage in its home market. Complete tariff control means that foreign products are significantly more expensive, making Protons new and used vans / car the local product of choice.

“With reference to Malaysia, there are no concrete developments or agreements. We cannot confirm any statements to the contrary.” Volkswagen Spokesman told AutoNews regarding the potential deal.