Chinese-owned* Volvo Cars today unveiled two new S40 concept cars that marks the official launch of its global small car strategy. Volvo plans to expand into the global market for premium small cars with a range of vehicles that combine “bold exterior and interior design” (yawn – editor) with claimed industry-leading connectivity, electrification and autonomous drive technologies. Production starts in 2017.
It appears that Volvo’s new T5 Twin Engine powertrain – which has a new 3-cylinder gasoline engine and a new 7-speed dual-clutch transmission coupled to an electric motor – indicates Volvo is abandoning its existing Twin Engine all-wheel drive designs for a more efficient front-wheel drive system on its smaller cars.

Volvo plans to sell a total of ~1 million electrified cars by 2025 globally.
The new S40 concept cars will be the first built around Volvo’s new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which has been specially created for smaller cars. An electric powertrain program including both a new compact Twin Engine plug-in hybrid, and a pure electric car are key products using the CMA architecture.
“Each member of our product family has its own distinct character, just like the members of a real family. CMA has helped us to capture something special, something youthful in our new concept cars,” claimed Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President, Design, at Volvo Car Group.
*Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Volvo Cars had sales of 503,127 during 2015, operating in ~100 countries. Volvo Cars has been owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group – cars and trucks – until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Thanks
Ken for posting info about the new Volvo model, I had been wanting to know more since they started throwing out teasing adds about it….smaller than I thought, and not all wheel drive..didn’t realize they were made over in China…thought it was typically a Sweden based company….Guess like everything else things change….