Your Concept Car — a project with women in the driver’s seat

The idea of an all-woman team making all the decisions in the development of a new concept car arose at Volvo in the autumn of 2001. Visiting Volvo at the time for a series of workshops was Marti Barletta, an American expert on female consumer patterns. She claimed, "If you meet the expectations of women, you exceed the expectations of men."

"We’re sure it’s right," says Camilla Palmertz, one of the two project managers for the Your Concept Car (YCC). "That’s why that thesis has been our guiding light in developing YCC."

In June 2002, Camilla Palmertz and a small group of colleagues were invited to present their idea to Hans-Olov Olsson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation. He greeted it with enthusiasm.

Women form an increasingly important customer group for Volvo Cars. In the United States, 54 percent of all Volvo buyers are women and the percentage of female customers in Europe is growing steadily too.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for us: we can concentrate on the fast-growing group of women customers — without losing the men. Because I’m certain that our male customers will love this concept car," says Hans-Olov Olsson.

All Decisions Made By Women

The project management team behind the YCC consists of five women at Volvo Cars, who brought to the project a broad spectrum of experience in various automotive fields. The three chief designers are also women.

"We wanted to keep the woman’s perspective all the way through," says Hans-Olov Olsson.

After a series of preliminary studies, the project was given the go-ahead by Volvo Cars Management Team in December 2002. The team’s brief was perfectly clear: a free hand to develop a concept car capable of winning the approval of that most demanding Volvo customer category of all — the independent female professional.

Volvo has a long-standing tradition of listening carefully to what women want. As early as the 1980s, a women’s reference group was formed at Volvo. Here, female members of staff are called upon to test and assess new models at a very early stage of their development. Moreover, during the development of the XC90, a women’s focus group was convened in California — all potential buyers of this vehicle type, whose views helped shape the Volvo SUV’s distinctive features and functions.

"If you divide the car-buying world into three segments: budget, mid-market and premium, our customer research shows that the woman buyer in the premium segment is the most demanding of all customer categories," says Maria Widell Christiansen, Project Manager, Design.

Women customers in the premium segment want everything that men want in terms of performance, prestige and style. But they want more besides:

• Smart storage solutions
• A car that is easy to get in and out of
• Good visibility
• A car you can personalise
• Minimal maintenance
• A car that is easy to park
• Smart storage

Smart storage goes far beyond where to put your handbag — It is a question of what to do with your mobile phone, your keys, your notebook computer, your briefcase, your sports bag for the gym and so many other things we carry in our cars.

The best place for keeping all the things you want on hand in the car is between the front seats. But that is where you normally find the gear lever and handbrake.

"So we moved them. In the YCC, there are gear levers by the steering wheel and the parking brake is electronic and integrated. This freed up space for storage in the centre console," says Cindy Charwick, who designed the YCC interior.

In the centre console, you find a shallow compartment for keys, mobile phones, coins and other small items. This compartment slides back to reveal a deeper one, big enough for a handbag. Another compartment takes a notebook computer and there is a cool box within reach of the driver’s seat too. A wastepaper basket completes the theme of sheer convenience.

"Most of our target group said they carry a bag in the rear seat far more often than passengers. So we decided to design that area primarily for storage but instantly convertible to seats for two passengers whenever needed," says Camilla Palmertz.

That is why the rear seats resemble cinema seats — normally folded up out of the way until someone needs them. This frees up large amounts of luggage space in the rear seat, easily accessed through the wide door. Passengers simply lower a seat each as they get in.

The YCC is a one-off concept car, a Volvo showcase for sharing bright ideas and solutions with the world. The most popular solutions will be those that stand the best chance of appearing in a future production model.

"We chose a gull-wing door with a modest wingspan to help us showcase the YCCís interior solutions," says Elna Holmberg, Technical Project Manager. "And it brought other advantages — it makes it easy to lift a bag in behind the driver’s seat and it increases your visibility over your shoulder to the side because the B-pillar has been moved towards the rear. And when the door opens upwards, the drop-down door sill rotates simultaneously, so getting in and out is so much easier."

An Easy Car To Get In And Out Of

Easy access to the car interior was high on the list of what the target group wanted.

The YCC designers were happy to oblige. When the gull-wing door opens, the drop-down sill below it opens down out of the way, so you do not need to climb in over it. The ride height is automatically returned to Hi mode for door opening, a comfortable height for those getting in. For added space, the driver’s seat moves back automatically and the steering wheel moves upwards. And the side bolsters on the driver’s seat base are lowered out of the way so you can get in more easily, too.

If you have a lot to carry, you can make the YCC open the door automatically when you reach it. You simply activate Auto-Open using the key before you pick up your bags, then, when you stand by the rear wheel, the relevant side door will be opened for you. If you go to the back of the car, the tailgate opens instead.

Good Visibility

Your actual driving position and line of vision is very important for both safety and comfort in reaching all the controls.

"In the YCC, we have combined ergonomics and line of vision adjustment in our Ergovision system, which we are in the process of patenting," says Elna Holmberg.

This is how it works. Your whole body is scanned at the dealership, then the data on your relative proportions (height, leg length, arm length) is used to define a driving position just for you. This is stored in digital form on your personal key unit. Once you get into the driver’s seat and dock your key on the centre console, the seat, steering wheel, pedals, head restraint and seat belt will all be adjusted automatically to suit your build. The result is a recommended fully personalised driving position with the best line of vision for you.

If you want to alter the stored position, you can change the settings of the various car components in the system, then store that set of data on your key unit. The system will warn you if your line of vision is wrong by means of the lenticular hologram, which looks like a stylised eye displayed on the A-pillar, between windscreen and door.

The exterior design of the car has also been developed specifically to help the driver see better.

"The bonnet section has been lowered and the fenders have been deliberately brought into sight. Add to this the fact that the rear window extends right to the extremities of the car and the driver will know exactly where the four corners of the car are," says Anna Rosén, the designer of the YCC exterior.

In Manila, Viking Cars, Incorporated is the official distributor of Volvo cars. The Volvo Makati office, showroom and Aftersales Service Center are located at 2272 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City while Volvo Ortigas Center is located at 88 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The 2004 Volvo automobile line includes the sporty S60, the flagship S80 luxury sedan, the versatile V70 wagon and rugged Cross Country, the compact S40 and V40 models and the all-new XC90 AWD. For details and inquiries, please call 893-6621 to 22 (Makati Showroom) or 637-0414 to 17 (Ortigas Showroom).