New electric car from Volvo will be presented on March 2, 2021

Cimi 21/01/2021 3 min read

Step two of Volvo Car’s investment in electric cars will begin this spring when a second CMA-based electric car is going to be presented.

Volvo Cars aim to sell more electric cars in the coming years. In just four years, from 2021 till 2025, half of the company’s sales will be electric cars, and to get there, the plan is to launch a new electric car per year. First out to come was the XC40 Recharge P8 AWD which came in 2020, next in line is a second CMA-based electric car which, according to CEO Håkan Samuelsson, should be more streamlined than the XC40.

We know that Samuelsson was very fond of the concept car ”Concept 40.2” (the pictures in this article) which was presented in 2016, a car that, while Concept 40.1 became XC40, was transformed into Polestar 2.

Now it is simply about Volvo’s variant of Polestar 2, short and good Concept 40.2 in production design. In the front, of course, there will be Volvo’s iron mark on the diagonal bar and at the opposite end other taillights to separate it from Polestar 2.

Photo: Volvo Cars

– I promise you that it will be a very nice car, says Håkan Samuelsson to Automotive News and at the same time adds that the model is not a replacement for the defunct V40.

– For Volvo Cars to be profitable, we must focus on higher prices, more in the premium car segment, he continues and refers to the fact that the V40 played in a price range that we will not see more times when it comes to Volvo’s cars.

The electric car XC40 Recharge’s new siblings will not be an SUV, but more of the crossover type that mixes different styles.
For example, the ground clearance is likely to be slightly higher than what a traditional passenger car that is not an SUV offers. Polestar 2 has just over 15 centimeters between the base and the chassis, one centimeter more than the Tesla Model 3 has. Visually, however, the difference seems to be greater. You could see Volvo’s new electric car as a variant of the disused S60 Cross Country.

Photo: Volvo Cars

We suspect that Volvo will present this new electric car with dual electric motors à la XC40 Recharge P8 AWD and Polestar 2. But eventually, Volvo will learn to remove one of the electric motors to offer the market a simpler and cheaper electric car.
To achieve its goal of 50 percent of sales being electric cars, it is not sustainable with electric cars for SEK 699,000 or more (XC40 Recharge P8 AWD). This time, Volvo has to land under Polestar 2 in terms of price, which is cheaper than the XC40 Recharge P8 AWD.

Volvo XC40 Recharge P8 AWD.

One detail that can steer the price in a positive direction (seen from the car buyer’s perspective) is the place of manufacture. The new electric car will probably be manufactured in China, where Polestar 2 is also manufactured. It is highly doubtful whether Volvo’s factory in Ghent, Belgium, where the XC40 Recharge P8 AWD is manufactured, has room for another electric car.

But what should this new model be called? There is talk of the C40, but the undersigned probably thinks that the S40 would fit even better in that it is a hatchback with five doors. The letter C should be reserved for a real coupe model, even if the C30 was not really that. Speaking of a hatchback, the new electric car will be Volvo’s first hatchback with a really sloping rear end since 440. The V40 was also a hatchback, but still with a completely different body shape.

Volvo has more electric cars underway and recently another electric model based on Geely’s SEA architecture, which we saw in the form of Lynk & Co Zero (coming 2021), was mentioned in media around the world. This model is still a few years ahead. First, we will focus on the model that Volvo presents on March 2, 2021.