Furthermore, "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.
As Freud would ask, or even Mel Gibson from that blockbuster movie, "what do women want?" The team of designers, throughout their planning stages, surveyed many women to find out what they really want in a car.
The response was overwhelming, so the design team took those ideas and created a car that met a woman's core needs in order to make life practical, stylish and above all, easy. "Easy access to the car interior was high on the target group wish list."
Storage space is also high on the priority list, which is why the YCC comes with cinema seating, normally the seat bottoms are folded up until someone wants to sit in them. Also, the gear levers are located on the steering wheel and the parking brake is electronic, allowing the individual to use the multiple storage compartments in between the two front seats. Besides, the most common area for storing personal belongings a woman would want on hand is in that location.
Project manager Camilla Palmertz further commented, "High on the list of customer wants is a car with good visibility and is easy to maneuver. So we in the management team said to Ana (Ana Rosen who is the exterior designer of the YCC) please put four corners on it. So she did. She inverted the Volvo V-hood (which is reminiscent of the Volvo P1800), so the hood goes down, and she lifted up the fenders in such a way that she
got two corners on the front. Then she made a glass roof all over, all the way to the back, so you can back up and know where your car is." Furthermore, the B-pillars are pushed back for a larger side window and better blind spot visibility, and the chassis raises 60 mm (2.4 inches) for those who like to drive higher up.
Whether driving higher up or lower, the hypothetical engine designed to power the YCC is a low-emission 215-horsepower, five-cylinder PZEV unit with an Integrated Starter-Generator (ISG). The ISG system has numerous advantages, "It prevents unnecessary idling because the engine can be shut off automatically when waiting at places like traffic lights. It comes to life again as soon as the driver presses the accelerator. It also provides extra torque at low revs, which means maximum power right from the start. And the ISG provides a 60 V power supply, giving scope for even greater user convenience," added Palmertz.
As Freud would ask, or even Mel Gibson from that blockbuster movie, "what do women want?" The team of designers, throughout their planning stages, surveyed many women to find out what they really want in a car.
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| The team of designers, throughout their planning stages, surveyed many women to find out what they really want in a car. (Photo: Gerry Frechette, Canadian Auto Press) |
Storage space is also high on the priority list, which is why the YCC comes with cinema seating, normally the seat bottoms are folded up until someone wants to sit in them. Also, the gear levers are located on the steering wheel and the parking brake is electronic, allowing the individual to use the multiple storage compartments in between the two front seats. Besides, the most common area for storing personal belongings a woman would want on hand is in that location.
Project manager Camilla Palmertz further commented, "High on the list of customer wants is a car with good visibility and is easy to maneuver. So we in the management team said to Ana (Ana Rosen who is the exterior designer of the YCC) please put four corners on it. So she did. She inverted the Volvo V-hood (which is reminiscent of the Volvo P1800), so the hood goes down, and she lifted up the fenders in such a way that she
 |
| The B-pillars are pushed back for a larger side window and better blind spot visibility. (Photo: Gerry Frechette, Canadian Auto Press) |
Whether driving higher up or lower, the hypothetical engine designed to power the YCC is a low-emission 215-horsepower, five-cylinder PZEV unit with an Integrated Starter-Generator (ISG). The ISG system has numerous advantages, "It prevents unnecessary idling because the engine can be shut off automatically when waiting at places like traffic lights. It comes to life again as soon as the driver presses the accelerator. It also provides extra torque at low revs, which means maximum power right from the start. And the ISG provides a 60 V power supply, giving scope for even greater user convenience," added Palmertz.