Swedish luxury carmaker, Volvo Cars, is reportedly working on a new compact SUV that will be positioned below the XC40. The new SUV, which is expected to be called the Volvo XC20, will be based on the new electric vehicle (EV) platform developed by its parent company, Geely. This means the car will be an all-electric SUV. It was just in September 2020 that Volvo’s Chinese owner introduced the new EV platform – Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), at the recent Beijing Auto Show. Introducing the platform Geely’s President An Conghui had said that the new architecture will support small as well as large vehicles, including sedans, SUVs, vans and pickup trucks.
Volvo Group CEO, Hakan Samuelsson told Auto Express that the company’s engineers are also working on models based on SEA platform and new rumoured compact SUV will be one of them. He said, “We’ll use it for a smaller car, where I think it’s very practical and smart for us to share that, so we can have a cost structure for a smaller car that’s very competitive. It’s difficult to push the CMA platform (the XC40’s chassis), which is a combination platform for EVs and combustion-engined cars, further down. So, if you want to do a smaller car than XC40 then SEA can do it.”
The XC100 is likely to feature a mixture of higher-end powertrains from the manufacturer’s line-up, with entry-level editions using a high-powered petrol-based mild-hybrid set-up, and alternatives available with both plug-in hybrid and pure-electric configurations.
The new flagship SUV has been made possible not only by buyer trends in key markets, including the United States and China, but also by Volvo’s improved brand strength. This will support a new high point in the firm’s pricing strategy, because when equipped with more expensive powertrains, the XC100 could well cost more than £80,000.
