Volvo 40.1 and 40.2 Concepts Revealed, Previews Upcoming Compact Cars

Volvo has been on a roll with its new generation vehicles and will now soon expand to its lineup to compact luxury cars to take on the big wigs from Germany. The Swedish car maker has revealed the new 40.1 and 40.2 concepts that preview the company's new 40 Series model lineup and could most likely make it to production as the XC40 compact SUV and Volvo S40 compact luxury sedan respectively.

Volvo 40.2 Concept previews the S40 compact luxury sedan

Both the concepts take design cues from the larger XC90, S90, V90 models complete with the Thor's Hammer LED headlights, wide front vertically stacked grille sporting the new Volvo logo, while the rear sports the C-shaped LED tail lights. There is an abundance of plastic cladding on the lower body and the roof gets finished in black. Talking about the 40.1 concept, the model gets brawny lines and has compact dimensions complete with accentuated wheel arches, flat hood and a tall tail gate.

The Volvo 40.2, on the other hand looks sharp and muscular in appearance reminiscent of the S60 Cross Country in stance. The shoulder line looks is sharp and the rear windscreen merges well into the boot-lid. There is also a panoramic sunroof on the 40.2 concept that likely will make it to the production version. Both concepts have been designed with several young references, hinting the target audience the company has positioned the models for.

Volvo 40 1 Concept previews the XC40 compact SUV

The Volvo 40.1 and 40.2 concepts will be the first to ride on the automaker's new CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) platform that has been developed with parent company Geely, a first major collaboration for both companies. The new platform runs parallel to the SPA platform that underpins the bigger XC90 and S90 cars.

The new Volvo CMA platform will underpin the 40 Series models

The new compact concepts will see some interesting powertrain going under the hood with hybrids also in the pipeline. The Volvo 40.1 and 40.2 will be offered with the new T5 Twin-Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain scaled down from the bigger models and will be paired to a new three-cylinder engine and a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The standard three-cylinder motor will make it to the base versions; whereas the four-cylinder Drive-E engines will power the higher and more powerful versions. Interestingly, there will also be an all-electric version, but only after the the SPA platform based EV arrives by 2019.

The Volvo 40 Series production versions will arrive in 2017

The first two concepts from the 40 Series will be making it to dealerships by 2017 internationally and one can expect a lot of cues from the concepts to be retained. India could be one of the markets to get both models, given Volvo's aggressive growth plans and the models will be rivaling a host of offerings from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.