2022 Volvo V40: New Volvo V40 EV Debut and Review

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2022 Volvo V40 Stylish and sleek, the XC40 is a small but essential SUV for Volvo. Bumper to bumper, the XC40 is the smallest vehicle Volvo makes.

It offers buyers an attractive combination of impressive standard features and the opportunity to own their first luxury SUV.

More than just a boxy but agile runabout, the XC40 is also one of the vehicles in the Volvo line to get Refill treatment.

Refill, as Volvo calls it, is a designation for a purely electrically driven vehicle or driven using a combination of plug-in power and gasoline.

The XC40 Recharge is the only pure EV currently in the Volvo lineup, and we hope that more Recharge models will start appearing in dealerships during 2021.

As for the standard XC40, we don’t expect much change for 2022. Since the XC40 was only introduced in 2019, and the Electric-powered Recharge version is basically new, the entire vehicle is relatively new.

But as Volvo continues to expand its lineup, maybe we’ll see the 2022 Volvo V40 – a smaller version of the XC40 hatchback – built on the same platform.

2022 Volvo V40 Review

Volvo will soon launch a “pseudo SUV” as an indirect successor to the out-of-production V40 hatchback.

This announcement was recently confirmed by the boss of the European company – and the crossover is expected to go on sale within the next two years.

When it finally reaches the UK, the new 2022 Volvo V40 will take on a growing lineup of premium compact crossovers.

The segment is currently dominated by the Audi Q2, BMW X2 and Mercedes GLA – all of which act as more expensive alternatives to the class founder Nissan Juke.

Until its death in August 2019, the 2022 Volvo V40 legacy hatchback was the only model in the Volvo lineup that had not migrated to the brand’s larger SPA or CMA.

It is still based on an adapted version of the Ford C1 platform, which was acquired during Volvo’s assignment under American company control between 1999 and 2010.

Since then, however, Volvo ownership has been shifted to Chinese auto giant Geely – meaning the next 2022 Volvo V40 is likely to move to a bigger, taller and more modern platform that offers support for electrification.

There is potential for the new 2022 Volvo V40 to use an adapted version of the base CMA found under the XC40.

This will allow newcomers to share the same lineup of three- and four-cylinder combustion engines, along with the 1.5-liter plug-in and all-electric hybrid powertrain that Volvo recently launched.

Lex Kerssemakers, Volvo’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, recently told Auto Express how customer trends and the growing need for hybrid vehicles have ruled out a low-cost, conventional hatchback replacement for the 2022 Volvo V40 .

“We need to do something more creative,” he said. “That’s why we decided not to just replace the 2022 Volvo V40 on a one-to-one basis.

There are two things that you cannot exclude in your thinking process towards the next generation of 2022 Volvo V40 . The high seating position was really a problem, and we saw a lot of people moving from the V40 to the XC40.

“I was part of it and was running the project when we started the XC40 – the polarization between high and low was much stronger five years ago.

Now, you even see people with hard low seats moving to higher seats. I personally think they might back off for a while, because it’s a different driving experience, but it’s a trend. “

Kerssemakers continued on the topic of electrification, adding: “You can no longer offer a new car that is not fully electric. And to be fully powered, you need the capacity to load the battery.

If you are trying to achieve that through width and length, then you jump straight into the C / D segment, where we already have the V60, S60 and XC60.

“So you have to use height, so you will use an SUV. And that’s where you need creativity. Can we in some way satisfy our hatchback customer while also satisfying high-end passers and battery packs? It’s a cocktail we’re playing right now. “

Asked whether this plan will feature a version of the 2022 Volvo V40 associated with the XC40 (similar to the relationship BMW built between the X2 “crossover” and its X1 “SUV”),

Kerssemakers said: “Potentially, yes. You see that we’re not the first to be. aware of this, of course; look what our competitors are doing. We are not geniuses.

“I don’t want to talk too much about our competitors, but the original [Mercedes] A-Class was a genius car when it was launched. It’s just 15 years too early.

It fulfills all the demands I was just talking about. So we need to learn from the past as well as look to the future. “

2022 Volvo V40 EV

The Swedish company confirmed the unnamed disclosure of the new model as it outlines its commitment to become fully electric by 2030. They describe the EV as “a new model in the Series 40”.

Volvo’s second EV will be based on the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform jointly developed by Volvo and parent company Geely and currently used for the XC40,

Polestar 2, and various models from Geely and its Lynk & Co brands. The company also uses the SPA platform for larger models, such as the Volvo XC60.

Volvo models on the CMA platform, which can be used for gasoline, plug-in hybrids and fully electric powertrains, are currently being manufactured at the company’s plant in Ghent.

Volvo has now pledged to double its electricity production capacity at the plant and says 60% of vehicles produced there will be electric cars by 2022.

Volvo is committed to half of its global sales to fully electric cars by 2025, with the rest being hybrids.

Last year, Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson told Autocar that the company “recognizes the need for other small and premium cars” with a special focus on Europe and that there are “plans to do more family models”.

Read next: All-New 2022 Volvo XC60 Review, Specs, Price and Release Date

While Volvo recently discontinued its 2022 Volvo V40 family hatchback, it is likely that the new EV will be a coupé-crossover, with a sportier styling than the XC40.

Samuelsson has previously said the company will not revive the 2022 Volvo V40, due to its increased focus on premium SUVs, which are more profitable.

Volvo is also working on a more compact EV that will sit under the XC40 and is expected to go by the name XC20, but it will be based on a special Electric Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform being developed by Volvo and Geely.

The new platform will be deployed for the first time on the new Lynk & Co Zero, which has recently begun testing.

Volvo will also launch an electric version of the next-generation XC90 large SUV, which will launch in 2022 on the SPA2 platform.

Along with expanding EV production in Ghent, Volvo plans to increase production of its electric cars at other factories. The company also intends to begin assembling an electric motor at its powertrain plant in Skövde, Sweden.

Volvo said it was bouncing back from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic by posting the strongest second-half sales in its history in the last six months of 2020, driven by increased demand in key markets China and the US.

The company’s sales fell 21% in the first six months of this year, but 391,751 cars sold in the second half of this year increased 7.4% at 2019 levels, supported by the strong performance of the powered models and the fast recovery. from the Chinese auto market.

Overall, Volvo sold 661,713 cars in 2020, a year-on-year decline of 6.2%. Sales in China were up 7.5% year on year, while sales in Europe were down 15.5% to 287,902.

2022 Volvo V40 Design

Over the past year or so, speculation has grown that the new 2022 Volvo V40 will look like a Volvo 40.2 concept. It coincided with the Volvo 40.1 concept in 2016, which eventually transformed into the production-ready XC40 SUV.

However, Kerssemakers has quelled this speculation, stating: “We have given the car to Polestar now, applies.”

Our exclusive images give a good indication of what the production-ready 2022 Volvo V40 looks like.

The final car will likely feature XC40 design elements – sharing a similar radiator grille and nearly the same headlight unit – but will have a lower roofline, slightly lower suspension, and a more manly rear.

Kerssemakers also dismissed assumptions that Volvo would build a smaller model to sit below the current entry-level 40 range, insisting that the company could achieve its goal of increasing global sales from around 650,000 to 800,000 without additional models.

He said: “Of course we’ve looked at [the smaller model], but we’ve clearly decided that there may be room for another body style besides the XC40 in the next two to three years, and that’s what we’re exploring.

But that’s all. Then we go deeper – keeping our strengths, keeping the infotainment to spec, and so on.

“It means, indirectly, we are not competing to fill every niche. We’ve increased our market coverage from a product line perspective and that’s OK. If you were talking about a small car, it would be a different kind of car – maybe completely electric.

So I can tell you now that we have no plans to do so. We have no plans in the near future to expand our portfolio, other than through electrification [existing model]. “

2022 Volvo V40 Debut

Volvo announced plans to unveil its second electric vehicle in December 2020, but without disclosing the identity of the model.

The mystery will end soon after the new EV will premiere during a digital special that is broadcast live for all to see. It will be based on the company’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), so it will be mechanically linked to the XC40.

2022 Volvo V40

Since this stylish little crossover has produced a version of the Rechargeable that is purely electric, this newcomer will take a different form.

Automotive News has reported on different occasions it will be a “coupe” take on the XC40, meaning a tilted roofline while retaining the rear doors. The same source claims it could go by the name “C40,” but nothing is official at this time.

If that’s the case, expect the same technical specs to mostly carry over from the standard XC40 Refill. Modifying the roofline for extra styling (although that’s subjective) will likely negatively impact rear headroom and cargo capacity.

If history has taught us anything, crossovers usually cost more than their conventional-style counterparts.

In an interview with Automotive News recently, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson described the new EV as a “very handsome car” with a “slimmer body.”

He went on to say the new model would not be a replacement for the discontinued 2022 Volvo V40 because the Geely-owned brand wanted to “focus on the higher price, more premium car segment” and the hatchback didn’t fit the bill.

Coinciding with today’s opening is a big announcement made by Volvo this morning, confirming what the head of the company promised a while ago.

The Swedish brand wants to become a fully electric brand by the end of this decade, with an intermediate goal of selling only EVs and PHEVs by 2025.

To achieve this, “several additional electric models” are being prepared, starting with the new zero-emission Series 40 car debuting today.

2022 Volvo V40 Engine

It is likely that the 2022 Volvo V40 will come with many components similar to the XC40 model.

The new 2022 Volvo V40 should have the same wheelbase, engine lineup, and technology features as the XC40.

As a result, we can expect the upcoming V40 to debut with a new plug-in hybrid powertrain. It can combine an electric motor with a 1.5 L turbocharged engine.

The battery will have a capacity of nearly 10 kWh. That should be enough to run a car from zero emissions to about 20 miles on a real-world trip.

Read next: 2022 Nissan Sentra: New Mid-Size Sedan Review, Specs and Price

2022 Volvo V40 Release Date

The cryptic teaser image accompanying today’s press release gives us a rough idea of ​​what to expect from Volvo regarding its power portfolio in 2025.

Only the XC40 Recharge is visible, joining the C40 perhaps mentioned above.

Five additional EVs will be launched in the next four years, including the big one that could be the rumored XC100.

Is There A New Volvo V40 Coming Out

The new 2022 Volvo V40 will experience a very significant increase in the brand’s range of the “40” small model, the 2022 Volvo V40 evolves from a hatchback into a compact crossover.

The announcement of the release was recently confirmed by the boss of the European company and we expect the 2022 Volvo V40 crossover to be expected to go on sale within the next two years.

2022 Volvo V40 Price

We expect the upcoming 2022 Volvo V40 to have a release date in the second half of 2021. Some estimates regarding the price should be around $ 36,000 (Est).