Volvo will stop producing compact cars after the current Volvo V40 is discontinued

The current Volvo V40 will end production in the summer of this year, 2019. From then on, the Swedish company will stop offering compact cars in its range of new vehicles. This has been confirmed by Lex Kerssemakers, Vice President of Volvo Car Corporation for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The market rules, and SUVs are in fashion.

It was in 2012 that the current generation of the Volvo V40 reached the market. Its aim was to find its place among compact cars, competing directly with heavyweights such as the Ford Focus, as well as the emerging Hyundai i30, not to mention other familiar rivals such as the Renault Mégane or the Seat León.

Since then, the growing popularity of crossover vehicles has shaped the marketing and production of new vehicles towards the SUV segment, where Volvo has found its market niche thanks to high-end bets such as the XC family.

The twilight of the current Volvo V40

That is why, with the roadmap ahead and after the presentation of the 40.1 and, above all, 40.2 concept cars, it became clear that Volvo’s future strategy involved focusing on the vehicles that maintained their sales and reinventing those that were falling behind.

This is the case of the Volvo V40. A compact car that, despite undergoing a profound update in 2018, has not managed to carve out a place among the current top 10 best sellers, while its most direct rivals appear regularly in the best-selling cars of 2018 ranking.

The rebirth of the Volvo V40 in 2020

Then, with the arrival in 2020 of a new Volvo V40, the image of a new car takes shape, positioned among compact saloons with a crossover flavour. A blend of concepts unified in a single type of vehicle.

An image that, although complex in terms of finding its place in the market, could carve out a niche among saloons, thanks to a flourishing rise in commercial acceptance, and supported by the more adventurous trend of SUVs, while offering a stance similar to that of crossovers.

The new electric range of Volvo

Thanks to a raised chassis, it could not only adopt a seating and body configuration with a higher driving position, but also place the batteries where the energy is stored in the floor of the car’s “skeleton”.

Therefore, we could be looking at a fully electrified model, a 2020 Volvo V40 battery electric car. A vehicle conceived on the CMA platform, related to the Chinese vehicles from Lynk&Co, since both manufacturers share the umbrella of belonging to the Geely investment group.

As we indicated, the presentation of the Volvo 40.2 in 2016 may have anticipated what would become the basis of the new Volvo V40. Something that already happened with the 40.1, which we now know gave rise to the acclaimed Volvo VC40.