The Volvo V40 will eventually be replaced by a new family of premium small cars, currently being co-developed with the Swedish firm's Chinese owner, Geely. The new range will include a five-door crossover, a hatchback and a sedan, with further models a possibility. The project will yield a range of similarly sized models for Geely, which sells a variety of brands in China. Having considered collaborations with other manufacturers, Volvo and parent firm Geely decided to collaborate themselves.
The modular nature of the firm's architecture will allow for the development of a series of more affordable Geely-branded models employing less advanced engines, suspensions and convenience features. The project is likely to engineer as many as five grades of sophistication into a wide family of cars, all of them featuring a high level of component interchangeability. Joint venture boss Mäts Fagerhag characterises this as a ‘plug and play’ approach to engineering the project’s various sub-systems, and their ability to comply with a wide variety of regional safety and emissions regulations.
Volvo and Geely have set up a new engineering joint venture to develop their C-segment Modular Architecture (CMA) vehicle family. It is likely the first CMA family model will be launched around 2017.