The Swedish company will not be machines compact the representatives of the “40 series”.
Volvo is not going to develop models that will be less the new compact family with an index of “40”. This is with reference to the head of the Swedish brand, Hakan Samuelsson tells Car and Driver.
Despite the fact that small premium cars are popular in some regions, in the Volvo don’t see the financial prospects in such machines.
“We are focused on cars of those segments that will be well sold all over the world. At the moment it is very difficult to make money on cars in this class. Of course, we could further reduce our platform CMA, however, this question was not even raised,” explained Samuelsson.
The architecture of the CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) will form the basis of a family of compact cars, which will include crossover, hatchback, sedan and wagon. The first two prototypes, named 40.1 and 40.2, were presented in the middle of may in Gothenburg.
Conceptual crossover 40.1 received a hybrid propulsion system, including a 1.5-liter three-cylinder supercharged motor on the front axle, electric motor and seven-step “robot” with two clutches. The total output of about 300 horsepower.
A prototype of 40.2, which is the harbinger of the V40 hatchback next generation, got a fully electric powerplant. Cruising range without recharging the battery is made up of 350 kilometers.
It is expected that the basic unit is for commodity cars will be three-cylinder petrol motor capacity of about 200 forces. In addition, in the range of engines “40 series” will include a diesel “four”.
The production of crossover Volvo XC40 will start at the plant in Ghent, Belgium in 2017. Hatchback, sedan and wagon will appear later.
