A 100% feminine concept car: the Volvo YCC!
In Sweden, nine women from the Volvo R&D department joined efforts to give birth to a 100% feminine concept car, the YCC (your concept car), a powerful but practical sport coupe!
© Volvo
Volvo had the splendid idea of entrusting to eleven women the design and manufacture of a 100% feminine concept car! They came up with the YCC (standing for your concept car, Madam.) a powerfully built sport coupe! That may appear amazing but, in our day and age of gender equality, women want the same thing as men, only better. Emotion and comfort, the glamour of sporty lines and the practical side of clever little storage areas. In the YCC, feminine aspects are therefore above all to be found in the many functional details of this car geared first and foremost to the active and independent modern woman.
Attractive and desirable as it may be, the YCC has also been designed to facilitate life on board. The gull-wing doors have a resolutely sporty look but do make it easy to access the driver's seat in any clothing. or when tightly parked in a car park. No need to make any adjustments to the seat before setting off: the driver's body is scanned at the dealership and body measurements are recorded in the key. Importantly, space has been freed up between the two front seats by moving the gear levers up by the steering wheel and using an integrated, electronic handbrake. A large storage compartment has been designed here to store an attaché case or a large handbag. Just behind is located an icebox perfectly accessible from in front, to freshen up before or after a fitness lesson. There is even a wastepaper basket, for a litter-free car.
Active women most often travel alone in their sport coupe say marketing studies. Rather than leave the rear seat vacant, it too has been transformed into a storage area, suitable for an executive woman's sport's bag. If a passenger boards the rear of the car, the cinema style seats are instantly convertible.
To brighten up the car interior, the seat pads can be changed. Change from a sporty brown leather atmosphere to a countrified woollen ambience for a weekend in the country for instance.
The improvement of visibility during driving has also been taken into account with a rear window that descends to the tip of the wings, which are therefore visible for all man½uvres.
Filling the petrol tank is also a crucial operation which can ruin a chicly dressed woman's day. In the YCC, the tank is not hidden behind a cap dirtying the hands: there's a filling point that opens automatically, just like the one for washer fluid next to it.
No doubt this plethora of good ideas will find applications in future Volvo models. When all is said and done, when they're driving, aren't women like men, or almost?
Photographies © Volvo
