Volvo uses Facebook to research new interior solutions

Volvo is using Facebook to conduct market research into how drivers use their cars' interiors via its new 'You Inside' app.

Users are asked to create a personal profile that includes the car they drive, their lifestyle and a list of day-to-day items they keep inside their car. The aim is to identify new design solutions based around qualitative data. Volvo cites innovations such as a sunglasses holder, front seat pocket and bag hooks as examples of previous innovations.

While perhaps not as in-depth as other research methods but, as a supplement, it exends its reach far beyond more traditional methods such as customer clinics and other, more targeted techniques.

Volvo is vocal about its desire to regain its position as the more human-oriented carmaker that produces products that realte to how its customers actually use their cars. There's a sense that others such as Skoda have taken that mantle in recent years.

Automakers are increasingly looking to social media to engage with the consumer market. In April, Citroen turned to social media and invited Facebook users to submit ideas for the C1 Connexion - what it says will be the first crowdsourced car in the world although some may dismiss it as a rather cynical marketing ploy rather than genuine research.

To find out more about the ‘You Inside' app, visit the official Facebook page.

By Rufus Thompson