2019-05-15 17:53
Volvo could yet be open to producing models smaller than its 40-series, the company’s boss has revealed.
The Swedish brand has been focusing on filling its line-up across the 40, 60 and 90 ranges of models. The XC40 SUV is currently its smallest car, although a sister hatchback and saloon are likely to join it on Volvo’s most compact platform, the Compact Modular Architecture.
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Volvo sources have consistently denied that the firm would even consider producing a smaller model than the XC40, to rival the likes of the Audi A1 and Q2 or even the MINI.
However, speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson admitted that changing customer views on the price of smaller items could yet make such a move feasible.
“I’ve said that we’ll fill our portfolio and right now we’re doing that,” Samuelsson said. “We took one step down with XC40 which is our smallest SUV. We have a very strong line-up of SUVs. So never say never. There is a trend now that premiumness is more and more decoupled from size. Small cars can also be premium. Just because you have a small suit, it doesn’t have to be polyester. So let’s see. Right now it’s not planned, but it’s a good idea also.”
Samuelsson also admitted, meanwhile, that Volvo may consider offering a charging infrastructure or an allowance of electricity as part of its Care by Volvo subscription model, once its pure-electric vehicles arrive on the scheme. “That could very well happen,” he said. “It’s an interesting idea because in some way when somebody has an electric car they need a good concept on how to charge them.”
If Volvo were to launch a sub-40-series car then it's more than likely that the model will have an all-electric powertrain.
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