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Volvo Expanding XC40 Production After 80,000 Orders

Volvo Expanding XC40 Production After 80,000 Orders 1 photo
Photo: Volvo
It's fair to say that the XC40 lunch was successful. It's a crossover that falls in line with what the customers are after right now, so orders are coming in steady.

Even without the European Car of the Year 2018 award, the smallest XC model would probably have sold very well. It looks like a chunky off-roader, comes with the technology all Volvo fans like and delivers car-like handling and fuel economy.

After receiving 80,000 orders for the XC40, Volvo has had to think about ways to expand production. Soon, more models will roll off the line at the Ghent factory in Belgium while Volvo Cars will add XC40 production capacity at its Luqiao plant in China in the first half of 2019.

“The XC40’s success has surpassed even our highest expectations,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. “The small SUV segment is the fastest-growing segment in the industry now, and with these additional CMA-based models we expect to benefit further from that growth.”

This refers to the replacement for the V40 hatchback, which has been riding on Ford's platform since 2012 and received a facelift two years ago. Of course, there might also be a new S40, since an oddball concept called the 40.2 seemed to preview this. But you never know; the next V40 could just be a fastback.

Also, back in March, Volvo announced it would be building cars for its new sister brand Lynk & Co at the Ghent plant. Just like the XC40, their 01, 02 and 03 models are/will be based on the CMA platform.

The XC40 takes on the German premium trio of Mercedes GLA, Audi Q3, and BMW X1, which have already built quite a reputation for themselves. Thankfully, it avoids looking like a jacked up hatchback or a shrunken version of its brothers.

As we've seen in a recent comparative review, the XC40 is almost as roomy as the XC60 and comes with nice features like orange carpeting in the door pockets and a digital display.

However, 80,000 sales aren't that much considering the model was launched last year. So maybe the supply cap really was hurting it.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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