Car Design à la Lady

Actually the news is anything but new. More than a century ago, one Mary Anderson of the United States got the ball rolling when she registered a patent for the indispensable -- especially in northern Europe -- windshield wipers. And what a trendsetter she turned out to be. The motoring association Auto Club Europe also credits women with the invention of spiked tires and dipping headlights.

It all goes to show that women quite evidently have a more meaningful relationship with cars than their bikini-clad romps on top of them might suggest, but the partnership has never been quite as serious as now. At this year's Geneva Motor Show, Swedish car manufacturer Volvo unveiled a super-slick, stunningly-stylish new car called "Your Concept Car" or "YCC." Designed to fit the needs of what Volvo claims to be the most demanding customer of all, the independent professional woman, it has everything a man might want plus all the added extras which women have long been screaming for.

Like the professional woman, the YCC coupé looks cool and graceful. Sexily sophisticated, it really has everything a woman wants: a special handbag compartment within easy reach of the drivers seat, a fool-proof little gizmo which will help even the most horrifying female parkers give their male counterparts a run for their money, elegant electric doors and special paint which works like a Teflon frying pan to keep dirt from sticking to the body work, hence reducing the need for women to get down and dirty with a sponge, bucket and tin of wax. But perhaps the greatest beauty of the car is that everything moves, adjusts, folds up and down, detaches and rotates, making it the perfect vehicle for anyone who can't quite decide just how it should look. Now would that be men or women?