All female team create award-winning concept car that even helps you to park!
Did you know that for more than one hundred years, women have been instrumental in the development of the automobile industry? In 1906, Dorothy Levitt, pioneer motorist, wrote a book called “The Woman and the Car” in which she advised lady drivers to carry a little hand-mirror in a convenient place when driving. The main purpose was not to restore her features after driving, but to hold the mirror aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in traffic! In other words, it was a woman that invented the first rear-view mirror. Fixed driving mirrors did not come into use until 1914.
Dorothy Levitt can in a way be said to be the very forerunner of the Female Customer Reference Group at Volvo Cars. It was established back in the late 1980s for the purpose of evaluating new car projects from a female customer/ user perspective, and is still very much a part of new car development today. Several years ago, Volvo tasked an all female team with the challenge of devising, planning and creating a concept car for modern people. The YCC (Your Concept Car) was born and unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2004, and has since scooped nine awards, the most recent in May of this year from the Sweden Advertising Association, the Swedish Design Award.
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.
Some of the features that have achieved the most attention are the ball-valve filling points for washer fluid and petrol – meaning that you need never have to open the bonnet. The car is coated with easy clean paint – a bit like non-stick surface of a pan, meaning that the dirt that does manage to stick on is easy to clean off.
Interchangeable seat covers and carpets are also washable.
A parallel parking assistance is a function women (and men!) requested. This is a two stage system – checking that there is enough space between the two cars first, before attempting the park. Once the space check button has confirmed yes, the autopark function helps with the steering to manoeuvre you into the parking space, but you control the accelerator, brakes and gearshift.
