Report: Volvo Confirms S40 Return And New XC40

2016 Volvo V40 R-Design (Credit: Volvo)

Volvo is currently remaking its entire model lineup, which is great considering it has some gaps the size of the Titanic. One obvious area it has needed to address is compact vehicles. In the United States, we haven’t had a compact Volvo since the C30 bit the dust at the end of 2012. That’s changing in a big way.

According to a new report from Jalopnik, which got information straight from Volvo’s CEO, Hakan Samuelsson, the third-generation S40 is real and will be coming to the United States market soon. An SUV version, which would be called the XC40 is likely as well. Both models will arrive sometime before 2019, which isn’t too far off.

As we knew and reported before, the new Volvo 40-series vehicles will ride on a different platform from the 90- and 60-series models. While the new platform wasn’t named during the interview, Samuelsson confirmed that it will be shared with Geely, which owns Volvo. Before anyone panics, the Swedes will be building the platform, not the Chinese.

One of the best things to come out of the interview with Samuelsson is the fact that the company will likely be creating a Polestar version of each vehicle. That means there should be an S40 Polestar, V40 Polestar and XC40 Polestar. Oh, and these performance models should all be hybrids, which means more low-end torque. It’s like a wild Swedish dream come true!

Samuelsson also dropped a nice update on Volvo’s electric car aspirations. The Swedes are planning to release a fully-electric model in 2019, and it will ride on the SPA platform that’s used for the 90- and 60-series vehicles. Range is supposed to be around 310 miles and Volvo will launch some sort of charging infrastructure, but it’s not clear where and what kind.

Also during the interview, Samuelsson confirmed that the upcoming V90 will be officially revealed at the Geneva show in March. The wagon is perhaps Volvo’s worst-kept secret, but it will still be cool to see the thing under the show’s glamorous lights.