Your Concept Car - Designed for your life

The idea for the concept car arose in 2001 following a series of workshops at Volvo by Marti Barletta, an American marketing expert on female consumer patterns who claimed: "If you meet the expectations of women, you exceed the expectations of men".

The female YCC project management team consists of five senior Volvo managers and three chief designers with a broad spectrum of experience. "Moving the gear levers up by the steering wheel and using an integrated, electronic handbrake freed up space for storage in the centre console," says Cindy Charwick, who designed the YCC's interior.

As a result, the centre console has space for a shallow compartment for keys, mobile phones, coins and other small items, and deeper ones big enough for bags and laptop computers. 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 with cinema style seats instantly convertible for two passengers whenever needed," says Camilla Palmertz, one of the project managers.

"We chose a gull-wing door with a modest wingspan to help us showcase the YCC’s interior solutions," says Elna Holmberg, technical project manager. It also brought other advantages. It increases your visibility over your shoulder because the B-pillar is further back and makes it easy to load items behind the driver’s seat.

To avoid the gull-wing doors being impractical they are split into two smaller upper and lower sections. The lower sill section lowers automatically when the door is opened.

"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 body is scanned at your Volvo dealer and the data of your proportions (height, leg length, arm length etc) is digitally stored on your key. When you put your key on the centre console, the seat, steering wheel, pedals, head restraint and seat belt will be adjusted automatically to suit your personalised driving position.

Parallel parking assistance is a function both males and females requested. When you need to park between two cars, first you need to check there's enough space. Pull up alongside the space and press the YCC's parking assistance button once for the 'space-check' function. If the system says yes, you can then select the 'Autopark' function and the car helps with the steering to manoeuvre into the space, while the driver still controls the accelerator, brakes and gearshift.

The YCC feels exceptionally light and spacious inside, rather like a modern living room inspired by a Scandinavian design using natural materials and plenty of natural and ambient lighting.

But the YCC is designed to suit individual tastes and choices of décor. You can radically change the look of the car interior whenever you feel like it. There are eight exchangeable (and washable) seat pad options to choose from, everything from dark brown leather, linen and wool, to a shimmering yellow-green embroidered seat pad. Each has a matching carpet – also easy to swap over – for a whole range of styles inspired by Scandinavian interior design.

"No need to trade in your car just because you have grown tired of its colour scheme!" says Maria Uggla, the colour and trim designer for the YCC.

For all-round flexibility you can also choose the ride height – either high, if you like a commanding view of the road, or low, for a sportier feel.