If you weren’t aware, Volvo has been on fire lately reinventing their brand and redesigning all of their products for a new future. Now they’ve unveiled two new concepts that give us a clear look into their compact cars to come.
The two concept cars revealed this month show us what can be done with their all-new Compact Modular Architecture or CMA. The new architecture will underpin the 40 series cars starting as soon as 2018 and will allow a wide variety of products all from one chassis.
As you can see here, design of the next generation compact cars from Volvo will share much of the DNA we have seen with the new XC90 range topping crossover SUV and the S90 full-sized sedan. Edges are sharper, lines contemporary and the look decidedly Scandinavian.
The two concepts revealed show both a compact car and a crossover SUV that would be the first two products to ride on the new CMA, but because of the inherent flexibility built into the new chassis the sky is literally the limit on what they can do.
This is because the new architecture is scalable. This means that the core components can be moved and slid around for longer vehicles, wider vehicles and taller vehicles like a crossover SUV. It rides on a tried and true MacPherson strut front and a multi-link rear suspension.
While suspension might be contemporary, the new architecture allows for several drivetrain options from traditional four-cylinder engines, a new three-cylinder turbo, as well as electrification with both hybrid and all-electric variants.
The center tunnel design allows for a large battery pack that can provide a robust range for plug-in hybrids in addition to the larger pack needed for all-electric models that Volvo says they want to have sold some 1,000,000 copies of by 2025.
One of the powertrains highlighted in Volvo’s presentation is a new three-cylinder turbocharged hybrid powertrain they call “Twin-Engine”. While specifications aren’t given, the three-cylinder engine and electric motor are called T5, which leads to believe power would be in at least the 200 horsepower range.
It drives the front wheels through a 7-speed hybridized dual clutch transmission that’s designed to allow either gasoline or electric only power, or combine both power sources for maximum acceleration. It can also charge the battery with power from the engine in addition to regenerative braking.
While it was not shown, all-wheel drive variants can also be created by adding an additional electric drive motor to the rear axle similar to how it’s currently done on the XC90 and S90 full size models.
The new CMA will represent the backbone for Volvo’s next generation of compact cars and crossovers that are vital to the company’s future. The more price accessible products will be the volume models for Volvo, replacements for the current 40 series that is getting quite old.
We’ll have more on Volvo’s new compact cars as the news comes, but for now it looks like they are well on their way to reinventing yet another important part of the product line in a good way.
