03 Mar 2004 | Brian said...

When its time for an engine inspection, the car sends a wireless message to a local service center, which notifies the driver.

Wow, that is much better than a light on the dashboard. ;-)

03 Mar 2004 | nick said...

What the crap? Maybe I'm just... cynical? Retarded? I don't know. But easier to keep clean? So she can focus on vacuuming the living room? Easier to park -- because we know women can't drive? Oil change every 31,000 miles with a reminder, because, you know, women are too busy buying shoes and tying pretty bows to think about looking at the sticker in the corner of the windshield to go to Jiffy Lube every few months?

On the one hand, the whole thing seems kind of insulting to women. Maybe. But also, why are these features that should be geared towards women? If you want to divide such crap up on gender lines, then you should know damn well that men could use a little help cleaning out their cars to say the least. And since men spend most of their time getting drunk at sports bars and golf courses and what-have-you, they need the easy-to-park thing too. Parallel parking when you're wasted sucks.

Sorry about that.

Also, it's ugly as hell. But it's a concept car, so that's how it's supposed to work I guess.

03 Mar 2004 | Sarah said...

"We learned that if you meet women's expectations, you exceed those for men..."

SMART thinking.

03 Mar 2004 | Tim said...

When its time for an engine inspection, the car sends a wireless message to a local service center, which notifies the driver.

I'm skeptical of any product that is "aware" of itself in such a manner. It seems like it has been designed to speed up the "money to Volvo" process (assuming this message gets sent to a certified Volvo dealership), versus just getting an inspection when you feel comfortable doing so.

Many products seem to do this: the Brita pitcher that tells you when you should purchase a new, pricey filter...the Gillette Mach Three Turbo razor with the little green strip that tells you when you replace the blade.

Maybe i'm being cynical, but I feel as though it is more in, say, Brita and Gillette (and Volvo's) interest to get you to buy more filters and razors, quicker. Though, to be fair, I guess it is a little different for engine inspections than for razor blades...

03 Mar 2004 | michael said...

Um, I'm not a woman, but I would love this car. Who wouldn't want a car that's easier to maintain and drive? It's a gas-electric hybrid, too, so it's good for the environment. And this is pretty brilliant:

"The bottom of the rear seats fold up, similar to theater seating, providing more storage space."

03 Mar 2004 | Chris said...

I'm very skeptical of the 31,000 mile oil change. Ther is nothing revolutionary about the engine that negates the need for normal automotive lubrication. Waiting 31K between oil changes is a good way to to ensure that you will be very close to your local certified service provider.

03 Mar 2004 | Benjy said...

I was going to do a little write-up on my site about this, too, but I'll mention some thoughts here.

My impressions were very similar to yours, Jason -- my first thought was "would women want gullwing doors?" I'd think the reaching and bending would be impractical in many women's outfits. While they claim it allows easier access to the space behind the seats, I don't see how and whether that's really a trade-off. Wouldn't "suicide doors" like the Saturn coupe has serve a similar purpose?

But the parallel parking assistance is probably a good thing, as I've seen way, way too many women ( and men) who can't parallel park to save their life (at least it leaves spots for those of us who can). But wouldn't changing the architecture of the car make it easier to park, as well? This design seems to be fairly long and low in proportions, but maybe a more upright design aling the lines of the Mini or PT Cruiser would be a better footprint/space trade-off to ease city parking.

Another thing the designers maybe didn't take into consideration is the long-term lifespan of the car in regards to the lack of a hood. Maybe the first owner, presumably a middle-class professional woman, won't work on her own car but what about those who own it say 10 years down the road? As cars age and move their way down the socio-economic scale the are more likely to be worked on by the owner or owner's family/friends. How does this impact resale value?

Or is that another female stereotype they feed--women don't care about value if it looks cute.

03 Mar 2004 | stone said...

I'm with Chris on the oil change thing. Plus, I have doubts about the claim that this car is easy to keep clean. I use my trunk, which is separate from my rear seats, to store things that get dirty: bike, snowshovels, camping gear. I wouldn't want to store these things where dirt could migrate into the back seats. I do like the inclined bumper corners, though. I park on a packed street. That extra bit of room would mean a few minutes less of a walk at both ends of my day.

03 Mar 2004 | Tim said...

All my life, I have searched for a car that feels a certain way. Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball. Now, at last, I have found it.
-- Homer, describing his car (The Homer), " Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"

03 Mar 2004 | cj said...

My guess...The doors electrically close themselves (key fob, car interior). That feature would have to be built in anyway because you can't close the door, reaching up, once your butt is sitting in the seat. Sure you could close the door Delorean style, leather strap, but that is so not Volvo.

03 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

One word:

Gimmick.

03 Mar 2004 | Matthew Oliphant said...

"Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman."

Wait, that's already taken.

For him: "Boxers are good." For her: "Boxy is good."

No.

It's sort of similar to the P1800.

I miss my 1969 164e.

03 Mar 2004 | hp said...

As for the doors, the same can/could be accomplished with sliding doors as already seen on a few Renault and Peugeot concepts from the last couple of years.

The part on the seats folding up is not so bad but would make more sense if the back part of the seat slide upwards so that, when folded, it takes as little space as possible. Of course, the seats would have to fold into the floor so its fold-up feature may not make much sense to begin with.

Lastly, for the oil change interval of 31,000 miles, it would require either a pretty much new engine technology or the car would primarily use its electric motor with gasoline/diesel one kicking in only when absolutely needed.

Basically, as per one of the previous posts, this concept is mostly a gimmick.

03 Mar 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

If car companies are starting to see a market for this kind of thing, I hope someone will design a car specifically for tall people. I'm not extraordinarily tall (6'4"), but even so I don't fit comfortably into any of the vehicles I like. Either there's not enough headroom, not enough legroom, or both. And even on cars with adequate headroom, the top of the windshield tends to be below my line of vision so I have to crane my neck everytime I stop at a traffic light.

03 Mar 2004 | but that's just me said...

Perhaps they should have said it was designed by women for everyone, not just for women. It does seem a bit stereotypical and sexist to say that.

By the way, don't females make up 51 or 52% of the population?

03 Mar 2004 | ek said...

As with most "revolutionary" new products touted by manufacturers targetting a mass audience, I think there is a good deal of gimmickry here, but I think there's also more than a modicum of really new thinking.

As good as most cars are these days, it's really the little things that set great apart from average. Little things designed into this concept, such as headrests designed to accomodate a pony-tail, could truly make it a more pleasant car to own for women. That's the sort of thing that I'm sure would have been dismissed as overly frivolous by a male-dominated development team.

In one of the articles about the car it was mentioned that women are far more likely to use the rear seat for storage than for passengers. I thought this was funny because I just recently noticed that my wife 1) always carries a bag (a messenger type bag in her case) and 2) always puts that bag in the back seat before getting into the driver's seat of our car. Since our car is a traditional coupe, that's a bit of a pain to do. I doubt she'd buy a car just because it was easier to put stuff in the back seat, but I'm sure she'd like a car more if it allowed it.

For me, if I'm carrying a bag, I always put it in the trunk. Why our behaviours are so different is a mystery to me.

Another interesting car/gender-related factoid I learned recently involves behaviour at gas stations (this was from an episode of MythBusters). After starting the gas pump, women are something like six times more likely to get back into their cars to wait than men. Their theory was that this may account for why 60% of gas station pump fires involve women (from a discharge of the static electricity that gets built up as they repeatedly get into and out of their cars).

Those little factoid things are a guilty pleasure for me.

To Benjy, they did change the architecture to a certain extent to aid parking. The front is tapered such that you can see where the front of the car and its corners end, and the rear glass extends to within inches of the rear end of the car. Actually being able to see the front, back, and four-corners should be a big plus in parking.

On this topic, Toyota actually already offers an auto-park option on some their cars (in Japan only). You just drive up alongside an open spot and pull ahead to where you would if you were parking yourself. While doing this, cameras built into the car guage the space. If it's large enough, you get some sort of indicator. Push a button, and the car actually parks itself. This is a real feature that is available today, not just a concept technology.

Cool stuff!

03 Mar 2004 | ek said...

Oh yeah, also read that the doors and trunk on the Volvo concept can be set to auto open as you approach so long as the "key" (it's really more a transponder than a conventional key) is somewhere on your person. I haven't seen anything say specifically that the doors would auto-close as well, but it seems like a safe bet.

Another nice tidbit is that the car's suspension lifts it up to make entry easier.

03 Mar 2004 | said...

Good luck getting those gull-wing doors to open when the idiot in the stall next to you gives you 20cm of leeway.

04 Mar 2004 | Indi said...

My favourite line:

Butovitsch said the $3.5 million project had some skeptics but the resistance ended when it became clear "this was not going to be a pink, cute-looking car but rather a very smart-looking vehicle."

So now we know what some of the corporate thinking at Volvo is like. I was surpirsed not to see anything mentioned about safety features.

BTW EK, I would guess many women get back in their car while the tank is filling for safety reasons.

04 Mar 2004 | ek said...

On the getting back in the car thing, yeah, I figured it was a safety issue, but it seems like a completely ingrained, sub-conscious thing. I asked my wife about it and she didn't even realize that she did it. Here in Oregon, though, we're not allowed to pump our own gas, so no getting out of the car and no worries about dying in a static electricity sparked explosion for us! ;-)

On the topic of cars, VW revealed a new hard-top convertible concept at the Geneva Show. Based on the level of engineering, it looks like this car is going to become a reality in something very close to its concept form.

The folding hard-top was quite a surprise, as most in the industry were expecting a lightweight fabric topped roadster.

I think the multi-function top is very cool, but I think the car is, overall, quite ugly.

04 Mar 2004 | One of several Steves said...

Nice example, ek, of how women and men do (in general) use and approach cars differently. And why Nick might be missing the point of a woman-designed car. Women do care about some of the same sorts of things from cars as men, but for different reasons. They like good handling, not necessarily so they can really push their cars through corners, but because it yields a quicker response to avoid something up ahead. For one example.

This is all generalization, of course, but that's part of what automotive marketing is. And most vehicles are really niche vehicles of some sort anyway. So Volvo taking a shot at appealing to a heavily female niche is not a bad idea at all. It's been working fine for VW for the last 10 years.

04 Mar 2004 | One of several Steves said...

I think the multi-function top is very cool, but I think the car is, overall, quite ugly.

Wow, that car is really dependent upon which angle you view it from. Although, it never really rises above "eh" in my opinion. And some angles really do look truly bad.

I guess I'd have to see the roof in action. A folding hardtop is hardly new, but the sunroof integration sounds cool.

04 Mar 2004 | John B said...

Isn't mileage between oil changes more dependent on the oil than the engine? It's the oil that begins to lose its ability to lubricate. So you could probably design some ludicrously expensive synthetic that could last 31,000 miles, they just don't tell you that each change costs $1500 and requires three days in the shop :)

04 Mar 2004 | Darrel said...

headrests designed to accomodate a pony-tail, could truly make it a more pleasant car to own for women. That's the sort of thing that I'm sure would have been dismissed as overly frivolous by a male-dominated development team.

I know lots of men with pony tails.

In one of the articles about the car it was mentioned that women are far more likely to use the rear seat for storage than for passengers. I thought this was funny because I just recently noticed that my wife 1) always carries a bag (a messenger type bag in her case) and 2) always puts that bag in the back seat before getting into the driver's seat of our car.

I, a male, do the same thing.

I guess I'm not seeing anything gender-specific in this concept. I think most of us, regardless of sex, use our cars the same way...to get from point a to point b and to haul kids and crap from Home Depot around.

As for 'easier to clean', I'm still waiting for an all-water-proof interior that I can just hose out once a month. Whoever thought fabric and carpet is a good idea in a car (especially when mixed with kids + winter) should be shot.

04 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Funny, but I insist on using the trunk (or behind-the-seat storage in my Spyder). I hate hate HATE to have junk clutter up the inside of my ride (I do, however, smoke cigars in my Saab).

04 Mar 2004 | Matthew Oliphant said...

As for 'easier to clean', I'm still waiting for an all-water-proof interior that I can just hose out once a month. Whoever thought fabric and carpet is a good idea in a car (especially when mixed with kids + winter) should be shot.

Agreed. We have food stains on the ceiling fabric. Crayon, (soy)milkshake, lollypops, marker, and whoknowswhatelse on the back seats. We usually get everything before it sets, but that damn red crayon on dark gray fabric, heating and cooling during last summer...

I have been thinking about the gullwings... Why not have doors like the back doors of newer minivans? The ones that slide along the side of the van. Seems like it would work for coupes, and maybe even for sedans as long as the front doors went forward and back doors went backward.

04 Mar 2004 | Benjy said...

As for 'easier to clean', I'm still waiting for an all-water-proof interior that I can just hose out once a month. Whoever thought fabric and carpet is a good idea in a car (especially when mixed with kids + winter) should be shot.

Jeep Wrangler has a hose-out interior available. But I guess it would make sense for minivans, too...

04 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Just trade up every year, it's easier than cleaning! :-)

04 Mar 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

As for 'easier to clean', I'm still waiting for an all-water-proof interior that I can just hose out once a month.

That comes standard in the Honda Element.

04 Mar 2004 | Peter Davidson said...

What's being missed here with all of the focus on the features and benefits of the vehicle by the automotive press and consequently the consumer comment is the fact that this heralds a change in the design viewpoint of a large car company. If you are a woman in the car design business do you think you might be heard a little more based on the buzz surrounding this concept car? I bet so.
It used to be that car makers designed cars that they thought would have the greatest mass appeal and then turned to the dealer to "hard sell" what they made to people who may of may not want the features of a particular car. Now what we are seeing is a much more enlightened approach where design is inclusive of the needs and desires of various constituents. In this case it's women. Next it will be other constituencies. Why don't cars come in different configurations based on the needs and wants of the customer. Why not a minivan that comes in two (or more) versions - families with children and families without children or a sports car with a version for men and a version for women. Just like right vs. left hand drive models. The differences may be dramatic or they may be subtle but they have the potential to make a real difference and boost sales.

04 Mar 2004 | Benjy said...

That comes standard in the Honda Element.

That's the other one! I new there was some newer SUV on the market with that. I looked over at the Nissan site because I thought it was the Xterra...

04 Mar 2004 | Charmaine said...

Why don't cars come in different configurations based on the needs and wants of the customer.

I agree and this statement makes perfect sense, however is this feasible for car companies to do? The answer lies in the cost. There is a reason why custom tailored shoes are more expensive than what you buy at Payless. Granted I'm sure there are people that would and do pay for custom cars, but I don't see Dodge rolling out several different versions of a minivan anytime soon.

And as a woman who loves cars, (but does not have one of her own -- I bike) those doors scare me. The first thing that came into my mind was "Back to the Future."

04 Mar 2004 | Darrel said...

That comes standard in the Honda Element.

It does? Hmm...

We looked at the Honda CRVs back when we were getting a new 'family' car. The Forrester won out (namely because the CRV was just a top-heavy Civic) but perhaps I'll be taking a good look at the Element come next car-upgrade time...

In this case it's women.

Well, I think the point some of us are trying to make is that the 'women' angle seems to be purely a marketing invention that came after the vehicle was actually designed. There's nothing 'female' centric about the new designs...methinks they're just trying to hook into the demographic via marketing.

Why not a minivan that comes in two (or more) versions - families with children and families without children.

People without children buy minivans? Why? ;o)

04 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

I'm tempted to sell my Saab and get a minivan for our third car (Rendezvous, Spyder, foo). It would work for carrying my kayak, my surfboard, my golf clubs, mountain bike ... all INSIDE of it, safe and secure.

Okay, perhaps not the kayak ... or my 10-0 longboard.

04 Mar 2004 | ek said...

Darrell, I think you're missing Peter's point.

Sure, you can pick out certain features being trumpeted by Volvo as "woman-friendly" and say; "hey, I'm a guy and do that too" or "I'm a guy and I'd like that too," but taken as a whole, the car represents a different way of thinking about the design and functions of a car.

And when they say they designed the car with spring-loaded rear seats because most women put items in the rear seats instead of passengers, the key word there is "most." No one's saying "all" women do that or that no men do that. Same goes for the pony-tail thing.

Your "I do that too, so what they're saying is just marketing bs" is a tiresome refrain. You are not a representative sample (or, you might say, you are not an army of one).

And on the Element, it's built on the same platform as the CRV, which is, as you noted, built on the same platform as the Civic. So the same concern you had about the CRV applies, but, as SUVs go, the fact that it's based on a car platform puts the Element among the more stable.

Another nice feature of the Element is that it comes with a built-in audio-in jack (can't remember if it's RCAs or a mini-plug), so you can plug an audio player, like an iPod, directly into the car's stereo system.

05 Mar 2004 | Darrel said...

Your "I do that too, so what they're saying is just marketing bs" is a tiresome refrain. You are not a representative sample (or, you might say, you are not an army of one).

My point was that nothing they're touting is gender centric.

Most women put things in the backseat? OK. I buy that. Of all the guys I know...hmm...hey...they also put things in the backseat!

As for the headreast...does anyone actually use it as a headreast while driving? My impression is that head rests are actually whiplash preventers.

And on the Element, it's built on the same platform as the CRV

It is? Aww crap. I thought it was a whole new platform. My civic is great, but I don't think it was ever designed to carry a mini-SUV.

Another nice feature of the Element is that it comes with a built-in audio-in jack (can't remember if it's RCAs or a mini-plug), so you can plug an audio player, like an iPod, directly into the car's stereo system.

STOP IT WITH THE EVIL TEMPTATIONS! ;o)

05 Mar 2004 | Darrel said...

Your "I do that too, so what they're saying is just marketing bs" is a tiresome refrain. You are not a representative sample (or, you might say, you are not an army of one).

My point was that nothing they're touting is gender centric.

Most women put things in the backseat? OK. I buy that. Of all the guys I know...hmm...hey...they also put things in the backseat!

As for the headreast...does anyone actually use it as a headreast while driving? My impression is that head rests are actually whiplash preventers.

And on the Element, it's built on the same platform as the CRV

It is? Aww crap. I thought it was a whole new platform. My civic is great, but I don't think it was ever designed to carry a mini-SUV.

Another nice feature of the Element is that it comes with a built-in audio-in jack (can't remember if it's RCAs or a mini-plug), so you can plug an audio player, like an iPod, directly into the car's stereo system.

STOP IT WITH THE EVIL TEMPTATIONS! ;o)

05 Mar 2004 | Sarah said...

Don, will you marry me?

05 Mar 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Geez Don, what is it about you that women love? First it was Alicia and now Sarah. I think Scarlett Johansson was here a while back looking for you too....

05 Mar 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

er, I meant Alisha not Alicia.

05 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Brad ... :-).

Sarah, if I wasn't already married ... *sigh* ... but I gotta tell ya, YOU MADE MY DAY! Yer gettin' flowers!

05 Mar 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Sarah ... best wishes on your knee surgery. Been there.

05 Mar 2004 | Sarah said...

Thanks Don, and thanks for the flowers - they are simply beautiful. ;)

07 Mar 2004 | Alicia said...

The electronic parking brake scares me. What happens if your car dies at speed? I think every car needs a manual brake.

And the hood thing pisses me off. Even if I never change my own oil or spark plugs or check my hoses, fan belt, whatever, the fact that I am actually prevented from doing so would be a dealbreaker.

07 Mar 2004 | Tatiana said...

Just a clarificarion: the YCC is built by women for the demanding customer -- regardless of gender. That's the whole point of if. So if guys like the features, it seems like the idea worked.

08 Mar 2004 | David Tiley said...

So... its a dark night. You approach your clever new Volvo, whistling a little because you are not completely sure of the neighbourhood and you see..

UNNGH.. a bad person (let's not be sexist now) bending over trying to BREAK INTO YOUR CAR..

What do you do? Simple. Activate the remote for the door. Catches the baddie under the chin, fires them up over the roof, dropping them head first onto the pavement. A neat little bundle to be slung into the easi-fit back seat and taken to the cops.

I have to say it looks a bit like a cross between an overfed De Lorean and and an army DUKW. Das Kleine Blunder? (to swap nationalities at a great rate)

10 Mar 2004 | Laura said...

I haven't seen or experienced that car, but I certainly hope that it includes female-friendly safety belts. The shoulder belts on most cars tend to rearrange themselves due to female "up front" anatomy. This causes the belt to position itself across the neck. It scares me to think what injuries that might cause in an accident - possibly worse than no seatbelt at all. Since it is illegal in most states to put the shoulder belt behind the person or to eliminate it, we are mandated to risk having our throats slit in an accident. Obviously not the intention of the male (no doubt) designers or government regulators. Same problem/risk exists for anyone who is short, regardless of sex. Some cars have an adjustment that is supposed to compensate for differences in height, but they don't adjust to a position low enough to make any difference.

11 Mar 2004 | niamh said...

Unbelievably patronizing. What i cna sleep easy knowing there is room for my pony tale... its the ultimate insult. We are not stupid.

11 Mar 2004 | Jacob Herman said...

Why?

12 Mar 2004 | but that's just me said...

It's patronizing to assume that women have long hair that is sometimes put in ponytails? Why? Some people will find absolutely anything to be offended by.

16 Mar 2004 | eric said...

maybe this will start a trend... cars designed by african-americans... gay designed cars...

18 Mar 2004 | he said...

David is a smart smart man

18 Mar 2004 | he said...

Would a woman really go through all of the trouble to change her seat covers to match her outfit?

23 Mar 2004 | Copy Xbox Games said...

Well!
What can I say, the swedish guys are number one in safety cause that cas will be safe or??

Copy Xbox Games.
Is it fake or is it really true?

26 Mar 2004 | exapro said...

What a day!!!!!!