Volvo XC90 women's Car of the Year

Thousands of votes were cast by WOW readers and, combined with the judges' votes, the Volvo XC90 walked away as the winner in the large SUV category as well as the coveted WOW Overall Car of the Year.

"We have focused on the celebration of elegance, space and well-being in the design of the new Volvo XC90. Every detail is thought through - from the uncluttered console and large tablet-like touchscreen interface to the handmade Orrefors crystal gear knob in our Twin Engine version. We have focused on creating a new expression of luxury simplicity and digital craftsmanship that delivers a unique and calming experience," says Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President, Design.

Taking the best of Volvo's innovative safety systems and adding to that list, the Volvo XC90 comes fully equipped with our IntelliSafe package as standard, delivering two world firsts - Run-off Road Protection, and Auto Brake at Intersections.

"We look at real-life accident statistics and study real crash scenes with our Traffic Accident Research Team. We do not develop new safety systems or features to pass tests - we develop them to save lives. This is why we can confidently aim to meet our Vision 2020 goal of having no one killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car.

We believe we have developed the safest SUV," said Dr. Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group.

Featuring a complete re-imagination of traditional in-car controls, the Volvo's XC90 driver interface is based on touch screen technology and an intuitively tiled menu system that takes the effort out of personalisation and interaction.

Volvo's Sensus control system delivers true connectivity with a range of useful cloud-based applications and services which can be operated via the touch screen, through steering wheel controls, or via the advanced on-board voice control system.

WOW is a South African female motoring media outlet. The WOW website (www.womenonwheels.co.za) was taken over in January 2014 by Juliet McGuire who started her career at CAR magazine eight years ago. Readers also have access to drive-day events and the annual WOW supplement distributed with the July issues of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and House and Leisure.

Together with the reader vote, the judging panel for this year's awards saw Charleen Clarke and Juliet McGuire joined by: