In an unusual move for the safe Swedish carmaker, Volvo has taken to Snapchat to reveal a couple of teasers of its smallest SUV, the Volvo XC40, which will be unveiled in concept form at its headquarters in Gothenburg on May 18. A V40 hatch concept is also expected to be shown then – with the first production model expected to be launched in 2017.
The sole photo of the front, captioned “not your daddy’s Volvo” on Snapchat, shows a more radical and adventurous front end design compared to the S90/V90 and XC90, as befits its more youthful target market.
While the company’s trademark “Thor’s Hammer” LED headlights are still present, the grille appears to gain a trapezoidal shape instead of a more rectangular form on its larger siblings, with a gloss black surround replacing the traditional chrome. There’s also a clamshell bonnet that is reminiscent of newer Audis.
The 40-series models will be built on new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), a smaller version of the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) underpinning the XC90, S90 and V90. The new platform will form the lower end of a two-pronged strategy to eliminate Gothenburg’s dependence on Ford underpinnings – in this instance, the Focus‘ Global C platform, used on the current V40
Expect the new cars – including a rumoured sedan – to feature a range of Drive-E 2.0 litre four-cylinder and 1.5 litre three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, as well as a T5 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid variant. The latter uses a 180 hp version of the petrol three-pot and a 55 kW electric motor to deliver a total system output of 250 PS and nearly 400 Nm of torque through a dual-clutch transmission.
SPYSHOTS: Volvo XC40
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Same time as Proton?
*Heavy breathing*
THOR(‘S HAMMER) IS HERE!!!
Wow it looks good, just pray the actual SUV will look the same as the concept. Looks like the X1 and GLA will have a worthy rival from the Swedish this time around.
This looks like the design is frozen already.
what kind of price point this XC would be?
most probably less than merc GLA and X1, around 220k maybe?
This S/V/XC 40 will replace current V40 hatchback and Cross country. Can expect a slight premium, RM220k seems possible.