Swedish Delight

We drive the smallest of the Volvo SUVs before its launch in India next month and come away very impressed. We discover that Volvo has not compromised in any way and this is a very loaded SUV

- Yogendra Pratap

The smallest of the trio of Volvo SUVs was unveiled in Milan last year and we were very impressed by what Volvo had done with the first of them. Developed on its new compact modular architecture, the new line of XC vehicles impressed both in terms of style and design as well as engineering. Finally we have news from Volvo that the XC40 will be launched in India as a CBU next month and we were one of the first to drive it in India.

This of course is Volvo’s answer to the BMW X1, the Audi Q3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLA and, from the first look at the figures, it impresses. Not only does it have the largest wheelbase of the lot, it is the widest and has the highest ground clearance as well along with the largest boot space. Hence, it seems that Volvo engineers have learnt from the shortcomings of the competition and given the XC40 a proper SUV shape, young and refreshing yet adhereing to the typical Volvo styling traits like the front grille and logo, the Thor’s Hammer DRLs and the tail lamp assembly, all of which hark to this being a Volvo. On the other hand, while the XC60 looks much like a baby XC90, the XC40 has no such sibling connections and is a stand alone modern car meant to appeal to the younger customers. In fact, the design seems to appeal to all universally.