Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Motors


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 03-04-2004, 06:00 AM   #1 (permalink)
paranoid
 
Silvy's Avatar
 
Location: The Netherlands
A woman's volvo

Volvo's car designed by and for women:

Article taken from the BBC:

Quote:
Volvo's new concept car, launched at the Geneva motor show, is a car designed by women for women.

If the Calendar Girls were making cars, this is what they would look like.

Volvo's latest offering seems to be almost more of a break with tradition than the Women's Institute members stripping off for a calendar.

The 'Your Concept Car' (YCC), on display for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show, was designed by a team of women keen to change the way most cars are designed with male drivers in mind.

Swedes being Swedes, the Volvo concept car remains eminently sensible.

Only this time, it is common sense spelt with an F for Feminine rather than Farmer.

Stylish

Seat pads, attached with magnets, can be removed to be cleaned.


The interior seat pads are replaceable
And the pads are available in different colours and textures to match a woman's outfit, or even the weather.

"The car is shown with a light yellow, embroidered seat pad, maybe for the more elegant occasion," Maria Widell Christiansen told BBC News Online.

"Then in winter you might chose a woollen seat pad, maybe in a strong cosy colour or you may go for the lighter, more Scandinavian looking one."

Practical

It is all very touchy feely, a mood encouraged by women-friendly Volvo boss Hans-Olov Olsson.

But the YCC also offers a lot of practical solutions.

Take the back seats which, like cinema seats, are folded down only when needed for seating, leaving space for shopping and sports bags behind the front seats when they are not being used.

Or the special umbrella, coins and key compartments inside the car's bodywork.

"It is storage, storage and more storage," said Ms Christiansen.

Trust

The car's bonnet is another fun feature.

The whole front of the car is moulded in one piece which can be removed only by a Volvo mechanic.

"Honestly, the only time I open the bonnet on my car is when I want to fill up washer fluid," said Tatiana Butovitsch Temm.

"Do we need to have a one metre square hatch for that or could we do it in another way?

"So we shifted the filling station for washer fluid to the side of the car, next to where you fill up fuel, and we closed the bonnet for good."

The car should be programmed to discover any problems under the bonnet, then send a message to the garage to let them know.

The mechanics would then contact the women directly to invite them over.

"If the car says nothing, then everything is fine," said Ms Temm optimistically.

Such thinking may not convince anyone who has called the breakdown services lately, but the appeal of a low maintenance car may still be strong.

"It is minimal maintenance, really, because the customers have limited time and they don't want a car that gives them a lot of hassle," said Ms Christiansen.

Groovy

Comfort for female drivers is another area traditional car designers often ignore, according to Volvo´s women.

So they have implemented a body scanning system which enables the car to automatically adjust seats, mirrors, steering wheels and pedals.

And for women with ponytails, there is even a split in the middle of the headrest.

"It is very uncomfortable to drive with a ponytail," said Ms Christiansen.

Ideas

Volvo will never actually take this car into production, of course.

But many of the ideas hatched by the female think-tank may still appear in more conventional Volvos, as well as in other cars within the group.

Volvo is a subsidiary of Ford, and the Swedish carmaker's idiosyncratic insistence on practicality and safety seems to be spreading within the group.

Take the new Mondeo which is to be built on the Volvo S60 platform.

The decision was apparently taken after Volvo refused to accept plans to use a Mazda platform across the group since it did not live up to its safety standards.
Oh boy, I can foresee the problems now:
Quote:
"So we shifted the filling station for washer fluid to the side of the car, next to where you fill up fuel, and we closed the bonnet for good."
(emphasis mine)

And I like this new volvo-employee friendly approach:
Quote:
The mechanics would then contact the women directly to invite them over.


Honestly, I think it's a nice car (pictures in the link) with potential for women who like large sturdy cars without getting too bulky.
__________________
"Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. "
- Murphy MacManus (Boondock Saints)

Last edited by Silvy; 03-04-2004 at 06:03 AM..
Silvy is offline  
Old 03-04-2004, 06:56 AM   #2 (permalink)
Dil
Tilted
 
Location: Sydney <-> Australia
lol,, it does look ok
Dil is offline  
Old 03-04-2004, 07:08 AM   #3 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
please use the search function when posting threads.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...ighlight=volvo
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
 

Tags
volvo, woman

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:50 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360