Volvo Concept Car Designed by women for women

Volvo's 'Your Concept Car' (YCC) is a concept vehicle designed by women for women. Conceived by Volvo in June 2002 with a view to targeting the most demanding premium customer, the independent professional woman, the YCC was presented at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. The idea of an all-woman team making all the decisions in the development of a new concept car arose at Volvo Car 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 YCC. "That's why that thesis has been our guiding light in developing Your Concept Car."

In June 2002, Palmertz and a small group of colleagues presented their idea to Hans-Olov Olsson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation. "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.

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

All decisions taken by women

The project management team behind the YCC consists of five women at Volvo Cars with broad-spectrum 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.

"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:

Smart storage

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