Wait’ll this chick hears about this.
Having a changeable interior is last on my list, but I like some of the ideas.
I like the idea of having my purse within immediate reach, for example. I also like the idea of having fold-up seats, which maximizes floorspace.
One thing I would like to see, though, is a more carseat-friendly configuration. With some states having requirements that kids be in carseats until they’re 8 or so, it’s something that must be considered. Perhaps they might consider a seat cushion with a built-in booster as an option.
Robin
[hijack]Heard a story about someone who visited a friend of mine at UC Santa Cruz. They went to the cafeteria for dinner, and the menu featured “battered fish.” The person in question commented out loud, “I bet they have a support group for it at THIS college.” Angry woman behind him yelled, “That’s not funny!” hit him on the head with her tray, and stormed off. Apparently UCSC offers no support for battered diners.
Volvo employee here.
The purpose of a concept car is to get people talking about your product. Based on that the YCC is a sucess beyond most concept cars. The YCC debuted about a year ago, and people are still talking about it.
A couple of notes here. About the oil changes, yes 30,000 miles is possible, but not with the oils that are available in bulk here in the US at the current time. The trend over the years is for longer and longer oil change intervals. Volvo is currently at 7,500 miles up from 3,750 a few years ago. Ten thousand mile intervals are probably a year or so away. (IMHO)
MsRobyn Intergrated booster seats are already available in the rear of current model Volvos, so no reason that they would not be in a YCC type car when it is produced.
SparrowHawk Gullwing doors were picked just because of tight parking spaces. They don’t require the several feet of clearance that a standard door (esp on a 2 door) requires. If you have room to walk between you and the car next to you, the door has room to open.
The Sausage Creature about the head rests, JohnBckWLD got it right, they were designed with a split down the middle for ponytails.
Ravenman Run flat tires (we call them self supporting tires) are available today as an option on many Volvo models.
Gull-wing doors are useless. They look utterly cool, and do make entry / exit easy even in a billowy dress or a confining skirt. But you can’t open them in any normal size parking space or garage.
So they’re seen on 50+% of concept acrs, and zero percent of (modern) production cars.
I agree the marketing is utterly patronizing.
Then again, my wife is a very male-attitude person (teaches boxing & hockey, and not to kids), but at 5’1" tall she finds the whole world designed for humans a different size than she is. In her opinion, simply designing a vehicle that shorter people can see over the dashboard and can reach the pedals without having the steering wheel bumping their chest would be a nice improvement. The pink flowers they can keep.
Modern marketing is all about segmentation. There are women who want everything in their life to be color-coordinated and soft & scented and non-threatening and …
The company that can make a vehicle they just love will own them as a customer base. Just like the company that makes their drapes and matching carpet and duvet covers and dishes owns them as a customer for life.
The same thing is true for macho guy and redneck and urban and executive and geek and gay and soccer mom and another hundred distinctly identifiable demographics. All consumer-product companies are driving towards identifying and serving the niches because the mainstream is too crowded and has little customer loyalty.
It’s interesting to watching the auto companies’ mindsets change as they’re beginning to realize they’re in the consumer product marketing business, not the transportation manufacturing business.
And along that marketing learning curve they’re gonna produce some spectacular blunders. I can hardly wait for the first car designed to appeal to the gay demographic; imagine how coy the advertising will have to be. Great sport.
(Note I’m not bashing gays, I’m bashing the ham-handed attempts by Corporate America to market to a demographic they understand only as a stereotype, while simultaneously not arousing the outrage of the reactionary anti-gay Christian Right and their legions of order-following TV parishioners. Yes, and them I’m perfectly happy bashing.)
Would you consider the Mazda AZ-1 to be a modern production car? Admittedly only available in Japan and no longer in production, but it’s not a particularly rare sight in Japan. And depending on where the hinge is, a gullwing door can require less space than a conventional door.
Based on scr4’s and Rick’s posts, I stand corrected on modern gull-wing doors. If they can solve the clearance problem, I’m all for them. They do look way cool.
Thanks for the info Rick, and the picture link, scr4. I can see how the gull wing would just sort of rise vertically and never extend beyond the car’s normal closed-door profile (or at least not much?). Is that how they work. That’s a superb idea.
I don’t know that I find the concept of marketing to women as a group inherently patronizing. It would be patronizing if they had a bunch of men doing the designing and all they assumed is that women wanted cushy seats with little embroidered flowers on them and vanity mirrors with lipstick and compact holders beside them. But the ideas of emphasizing reliability and that there are conveniences specific to women don’t offend me. While they’re at it, they could do better on those cupholders. I live and die by mine. A decent cupholder is a safety issue, not an incidental trapping.
Japanese manufacturers make so many nice cars, a shame so few make it to Europe and the US 