What do women want in a car?

Over a year ago, Volvo Car Corp. gave female employees a special project; to develop the perfect car for affluent, independent women. The result is a spacious, 215-horsepower coupe with an amazing array of options.

The all-female team demanded everything in a car that men want in terms of performance plus “a lot more that male car buyers have never thought of asking for,” said Hans-Olov Olsson, Volvo’s president and CEO.

The YCC (Your Concept Car) was shown publicly for the first time during a media preview at the Geneva International Motor Show at the beginning of March. Since the project was approved, every aspect of the car’s design and production was overseen by a group of Volvo women – a first in the automotive industry.

Concept cars are designed to test ideas. While Volvo’s prototype might never be put into production, some of the additions might be added to cars that roll out in 2005. Volvo’s designers surveyed about 400 of their female colleagues to find out what they felt was missing from their cars and found that most of their answers were the same.

What do women want? The top four items are: Storage space, ease of parking, ergonomics and a car that has easy maintenance.

Volvo’s YCC has a low emission, gas-electric hybrid engine. The front end is designed as one large section that can be lifted only by the mechanic. Most women don’t want to be bothered with maintenance and so the car is designed to be virtually maintenance- free (oil change every 50,000 kilometres). When the car needs servicing it sends a wireless message to a local service station, which will contact the owner and schedule an appointment.

It has wide, gull-wing doors that provide easy access to the rear seats that fold-up, theatre-style, into storage space when not occupied and the emergency brake is electric, freeing up space between the front seats. The YCC automatically adjusts the seat, head restraint, pedals, steering wheel and safety restraint to fit the body of the driver. The chassis height can also be changed from low to high depending on the terrain.

This all-female creation has a race-car-style fuelling system allowing the gas nozzle to pass through an opening, with a roller-ball valve to prevent gas and fumes from escaping. And for even more convenience, window washer fluid is poured into a reservoir located right beside the gas tank.

Volvo has used dirt-repellent paint and glass and they’ve created machine-washable seat covers. The seat covers and carpets come in a variety of styles for a customized interior. But perhaps the most interesting technological development is its parking sensor, which tells the driver if the car will fit into a parking space and can even take over the steering for parallel parking. When these features are combined with its run-flat tires, its pedals that collapse to the floor during a crash to prevent leg injuries, and the headrest with a valley down the centre for women who wear their hair in ponytails, this vehicle leaves the competition flailing.

Today, women in Canada and Europe are having children later in life. The rise in the number of working mothers and divorced women is fuelling the demand for safer vehicles. Women will either act alone or have a say in over 80% of vehicle purchases. Volvo is one of the first automobile companies to recognise the need to deliver to women what they want.

The women who designed the YCC were pulled from various parts of the company. Volvo’s biggest challenge was to find women who could free themselves from other responsibilities for over a year to work on this project. Hats off to Volvo for placing women in the designer’s seat.

Image courtesy Volvo