05 Mar 04
YCC stands for "your concept car." That means a car produced in response to customer and focus group feedback that could suit everyone's needs, though it would be easy to assume that it's a car developed solely with women in mind, given that all the publicity for the YCC centred around the fact that it was conceived (no pun intended), designed and engineered by an all-female team. Still, "if you meet the expectations of women, you exceed the expectations of men", apparently, and the team correctly points out that women buying so-called premium-sector cars are amongst the most demanding customers. Women also account for over half of Volvo's customers in the all-important US market, and were thus the target group in Volvo's research for this project.
So what do women want? Mel Gibson may have failed to answer this question in the dubious film of that name, but Volvo knows: smart storage solutions, easy access in and out of a vehicle, good all-round vision, the possibility to personalise a car, minimal maintenance needs and ease of parking. Yep, all things men could benefit from too, not that they'd admit to it (since we're dealing with gender stereotypes here). The YCC was then developed around these requests, but the team weren't going to compromise, take the easy route and wrap their user-friendly concept up in a roomy runaround's body. Instead, the YCC is an aggressive-looking S60-sized coupe, with short front and rear overhangs, muscular wings, strips of LED lights and large alloys, retaining the shooting brake-style rear hatch and generous luggage bay of past Volvo coupes like the P1800 ES and the less pretty 480 ES. To match up to its appearance, it is fitted with Volvo's five-cylinder 215 bhp petrol engine, mated to six-speed clutchless transmission which can operate in full-auto mode or via sequential-shift controls on the steering column. With a nod to eco-friendliness, the engine incorporates an integrated starter-generator, turning off automatically when idling to save fuel and cut emissions.
Volvo knows that gullwing doors always mean motorshow photos, so the YCC has a suitably spectacular top-hinged, electrically-opening pair, with large glass wraparound windows forming transparent roof panels when closed. The doors also have the welcome side-effect of ease of access - aided further by drop-down side sills - to both front and rear seats, allow for large glazed side areas with the rearward positioning of the B-pillars and of, course, enable a better showing-off of the car's interior. This cabin is where the most relevant developments are; attractive as the YCC is, it's purely a show car and doesn't bear much resemblance to the C70 coupe's replacement that's currently on the drawing board, nor to the C50 coupe-convertible on its way next year, so we've been told. But we can expect to see many of the features showcased in the YCC to make their way into new Volvo models in the near future, notably the next-generation V70 estate.
