In recent years, Ford, Nissan and Mazda have all used female designers to devise women-friendly touches for cars and vans. Even Porsche, the German sports car maker synonymous with manly motoring, sought to appeal to women with its new sport utility vehicle, the Cayenne.
But the industry has avoided labeling cars as women-friendly because it does not want to alienate half its market. For the same reason, companies try to avoid being tagged as catering to older customers.
"Volvos, because they are safe, did come to appeal to more mature drivers," said Garel Rhys, director of the automotive industry research group at Cardiff University in Wales. "I used to say laughingly that Volvo should put Braille on its steering wheel. They didn't like that image."
Like other carmakers, Volvo is predominantly male. But Sweden is an unusually egalitarian society, even by Western standards. Several executives said it was no surprise that this project happened there.
"This is not just a token gesture," said Mark Fields, the head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, which includes Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover. "What we're really testing is a list of options."
Some of the car's features benefit men as much as women. A computer records the driver's body measurements so that each time he or she climbs into the car, the seat and steering wheel adjust. The gasoline tank has a roller-ball valve opening, like a race car, so one does not have to unscrew a cap.
Other devices seem more women-friendly. The seat covers can be easily removed, giving the owner the option of changing colors and patterns. The head-rests have a gap in the center to accommodate a ponytail.
The doors, which swing up and out at the touch of a button, are the car's most eye-catching detail. Volvo's designers say they would be a godsend to a woman laden with shopping bags. Other carmakers dared Volvo to try to open the doors in an average-size garage.
The wrap-around bumper drew similar catcalls. Rosen said the car could tolerate "creative driving" in parking lots and other tight spaces, without having to be returned to the shop for repairs. Lutz said this perpetuated the image that women are worse drivers than men.
Volvo's rivals do not dispute the growing influence of women. BMW estimates that in the US, 50 percent to 60 percent of the drivers of its X5 sport utility vehicle are female.
But Ganal said: "We never approach a car by asking, Is the car more used by males or females? We ask, What is the purpose of the car?"
Even Volvo's designers accepted one limitation. The Volvo emblem is its name stamped on the universal symbol of the male gender, a circle with an arrow pointing up and to the right. The designers said they toyed with the idea of changing the emblem to the universal symbol for woman.
Then, said Lena Ekelund, the project's deputy technical manager, "we decided we would just leave it alone."
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