Now, new information regarding the Swedish carmaker’s future plans is surfacing. Volvo is currently developing a new five-door hatchback for the European market, as Insideline reports.
The company is working on a vehicle that will take on the Volkswagen Golf. Volvo currently offers a compact model, the C30 (you can read our review of the vehicle here), but this only comes in a three-door form.
The C-segment is the most important in Europe and the models that account for the majority of the sales offer five doors. The most representative vehicle for the segment is the Volkswagen Golf and this is why Volvo chose it as a benchmark.
The future Volvo hatch is expected to be underpinned by the current platform used for the C30 and S40. The platform comes from the outgoing incarnation of the Ford Focus, as it dates back to Volvo’s Ford ownership era. One advantage offered by this is the fact that the architecture comes with independent rear suspension.
As for the styling of the future Scandinavian hatch, this will come with distinct Scandinavian design cues, using this to attract buyers.
"Simplicity is the key. We need to stop copying the Germans. We should express what Scandinavia stands for - high values for human beings, strong social security and welfare. We don't have to be the same size or have the same package," Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby, who formerly led Volkswagen of America, told Insideline.
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