Volvo-V40-Concept-2

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