Global News: Volvo XC60 Wins Over the Women

Over the past year, eight female motoring journalists from Britain, the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand put 21 selected cars to the test. The group and the award were created to educate the world's car makers about female customers' requirements.

"We searched a long time to put together a team of female motoring correspondents qualified to vote for the winners. This was no easy task since there aren't that many female motoring journalists," says Sandy Myhre, jury chairperson from New Zealand.

The cars were assessed on a wide range of criteria described as a "women-specific shopping-list". This includes parameters such as storage space, child-friendliness, aesthetic appeal - that is to say design - and driving pleasure.

Acceleration and torque were also assessed, but were not among the top priorities. Climate impact was another factor. One of the more unusual assessment parameters was "sex appeal". However, this was not a factor that made any major impact on the final result.

"I assumed that women would definitely attach greater importance to properties such as value for money and child-friendliness. As the votes started adding up it became clear that factors such as sexiness and climate impact were being assessed more critically, scoring relatively low marks compared with certain other categories," says Paul McCormick from auditing firm Grant Thornton who oversees the competition and the voting procedure.

All the winners in the four categories were recently presented in London. The Volvo XC60 won the "Family Car of the Year" category. The overall winner of the competition was the Jaguar XF.

Credits: wilswong