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If the next-generation
comes to the U.S., the car that rolls up on our docks won’t be a straightforward rework of the present chippy hatch. According to
Auto Express
, the coming
will turn into a “pseudo-SUV.” The love for all things high-riding appears to be the primary factor in the switch. Lex Kerssemakers, the brand’s SVP for Europe, the
, and Africa, said, “There’s two things you can’t exclude in the thinking process towards the next generation of V40. The high seating position is really an issue, and we see a lot of people moving from V40 into
.” He added that “even the die-hard low seating people [are] moving to higher seats.”
The second factor is electrification. The present V40 doesn’t ride on
CMA or SMA platforms, the only odd-model-out in the lineup. A revised version of
Global C platform lives under V40 sheetmetal, said architecture going all the way back to the 2004 Volvo
.
A reborn V40 on the CMA platform that supports the
will be much more inviting to an electric drivetrain. Adding
interior space will be even more so. Said Kerssemakers, “[To] be fully electrified you need capacity to put the batteries in. If you try to achieve that through width and length then you’re instantly into the C/D segment, where we already have
,
and
. So then you need to use height, so you’re going into an SUV.”
The exec said design teams right now are trying to find a creative combination that pleases hatchback buyers, “the high ingress-egress people, and the battery package.”
Autocar
believes the various practical necessities
, and an earlier
Auto Express
report from December 2017 predicted the next V40 would get the same width but a lower roofline than the XC40, making the V40 look wider and more stylish.
We’re still left wondering what this means for a V40 in the U.S. The hatch got scratched from our playing field in 2003, and it took until 2015 for Volvo to announce an eventual return. But that next-gen car was meant to arrive this year, hailed as potential competition for the
and
.
Not only is that not happening, but the current V40 won’t endure long enough to hand off the baton. After a refresh in 2016, the hatch goes out of production later this year, the replacement not due for two or three years. Kerssemakers knows this could be a dangerous pause, saying, “We can’t wait too long to introduce the
. We don’t want to lose our space in the segment. We are still confident that we can cover certain parts of the market, although not the die-hard hatchback fans.”
Related Video:
from Autoblog http://bit.ly/2Waog4C