Car seats come in all shapes and sizes but chances are none are as luxurious as Volvo’s latest design.
Called the Excellence Child Seat, the concept replaces the passenger chair with an adjustable baby seat that rises, falls, swivels and tilts at the touch of a button.
Volvo said it wanted to re-imagine how small children can travel and the concept is based on its safety guidelines that state children should travel rearward facing at least up to the age of 4.
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Volvo explained that children under this age are said to lack the muscular neck strength and have a disproportionate head size and weight in relation to their body, meaning they need to be supported more while driving.
With this in mind, the concept lets parents swivel the seat counter-clockwise when seating the child and then lock the seat in a rearward facing position.
And if other passengers are travelling in the car they can sit behind the child and entertain them, feed them or keep an eye on them more easily.
The concept also provides storage for small items beside the seat and a storage space underneath for nappies, blankets and other items.
Other larger items can be placed at the front of the seat under the dashboard.
‘We started by asking ourselves if we could make life easier for parents and safer for their children when it comes to the child seat experience,’ said Tisha Johnson, chief designer interiors at Volvo Cars Concept and Monitoring Centre.
‘For us the safety, convenience, and emotional factors outweigh everything else.
Video: Volvo replace passenger chair with Excellence Child Seat
‘Being able to maintain eye contact with your child from the rear seat, or being able to keep a bottle warm in the heated cup holders in the XC90 Excellence, would go a long way towards making life easier for parents taking their small child on a trip.
‘Such alternative seating arrangements will become increasingly important as we move towards autonomous vehicles.
She added that in addition to keeping the child safe the seat also makes it easier for parents to get their child in and out of the car without having to strain or twist their backs.
The idea is just a concept at the moment and Volvo has no immediate plans to release the model.
However, the XC90 is available with base models starting at $49,895 (£32,490).
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