The Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) body style has witnessed tremendous demand in the global markets as well as in India. Auto companies have traditionally offered SUVs that have a large footprint combined with butch exteriors and minimal interiors, but this trend has been changing towards smaller sized vehicles with more comfort and safety features.
This trend has marked the entry of the compact SUVs across all vehicle categories from pretty much all manufacturers across the globe. This segment offers the best of the typical SUV design elements packaged into a smaller size, which is now friendlier, in terms of being used in urban centres with high levels of congestion and lower parking spaces.
The Volvo XC40 was introduced in India in 2018, but back then the luxury SUV was launched only with a 2 l, D4 diesel engine, and now in December 2019, Volvo has launched the XC40 with the T4 petrol engine in the R-Design trim alone. The new Volvo XC40 T4 petrol variant has replaced the diesel version of the luxury compact SUV, which the company has discontinued without divulging the reasons for the same. Perhaps it is in line with Volvo’s initiative to transform its entire product portfolio to petrol and other cleaner forms of powertrain!
PLATFORM, CAPABILITIES
The XC40 is the first, and presently the only model to be based on Volvo’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform that was created to produce smallsized vehicle models in line with its global transformation strategy. This platform has enabled Volvo’s engineers to retain numerous features distinct to the XC40’s bigger siblings, while at the same time exploring a radical design for the exterior of the vehicle, which is quite unique.
This story is from the February 2020 edition of Auto Tech Review.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of Auto Tech Review.
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