Volvo plans to launch a small luxury car to compete with the MINI specification below V40

Gasgoo Motors reported that Volvo Cars is currently brewing a small luxury car to compete with BMW's MINI and Audi A1 models. The parent company of Volvo Cars China Geely Holding Group may participate in the engine manufacturing of new cars.

Volvo's new car refers to the MINI, Geely or Volvo car CEO Stefan Jacoby recently received an interview with the "European Auto News", said that luxury car buyers are increasingly inclined to buy small cars, "Hao car consumers are not According to the size of the vehicle or the number of engine cylinders to define a luxury car, there are now other features to determine the scope of luxury cars."

“European Auto News” reported that Jacoby points out that Volvo is considering adding a small car of MINI and Audi A1 level to the product lineup. "European Automotive News" also disclosed that if Volvo decides to proceed with the development of small cars, it will need to find a partner to share R&D costs, and at the same time co-develop or manufacture miniaturized engines - it is likely to co-produce with its parent company, Geely Automobile.

The smallest model in the current Volvo car lineup is the compact car new V40, which competes with the Audi A3 and the BMW 1 Series. The V40 has just debuted this year, so Volvo is only considering launching a lower-profile vehicle, but it is not in a hurry to launch the compact car immediately.

Jacoby said: “The top priority is the launch of the Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA) to update Volvo’s core products, such as the 60, 80/90, and SUV models. When I manage this matter, consider We will develop various aspects such as hatchback sports cars and miniaturized models to diversified and targeted niche niche markets.”

From the perspective of sales volume, entry-level luxury cars such as the Audi A1 and the new generation of Lancia Ypsilon have recently experienced uneven performance. According to data provided by JATO Dynamics, sales of this class of vehicles increased by 19% year-on-year to 332,262 units in the same period last year, but fell by 10% to 148,891 units in the first half of this year.

Volvo accelerates its efforts to promote the miniaturization of its products Volvo Cars is accelerating the development of the global market and proposes to introduce more new vehicles after proposing SPA platform platform architecture and Volvo Environmental Architecture (VEA) engine concept. The VEA engine family plans to replace the five-cylinder and six-cylinder engines with three-cylinder and four-cylinder engines. Miniaturization has become an obvious development direction, and Volvo has also focused on small cars as the focus of the future and seeks partners for it.

At the Detroit Auto Show in January this year, CEO Jacoby said: "We are developing our own models and engine platforms. For high-end models, it can cover 600,000 to 700,000 vehicles, or nearly 70-80% of sales in the coming years; For smaller wheelbase models, we are still looking for partners."

It is reported that the product life of the Volvo V40 will be nearing completion in 2017. Volvo Cars will release a new generation of compact cars with similar specifications. Therefore, it needs partners to jointly undertake development costs and improve research and development efficiency.

In June of this year, Jacoby pointed out that he hopes to build a plant in North America, and if partners can develop small cars together with Volvo, it will be an ideal choice. Some foreign media have locked their partner candidates on Fiat.

Jacoby acknowledged that Volvo’s search for collaborators was “open to all” and reaffirmed his previous remarks: “We are opening the door to our partners. We are sharing the platform, engines and the promotion of universal economic cooperation in a win-win situation. We are open-minded.” Regarding Volvo’s rumors of cooperation with Fiat, Jacoby retorted: “Fiat is obviously one of the choices. If you talk with Malchone, tell him to call me.”

Correspondingly, when Fiat CEO Malchoney talked about his collaborators at the Geneva Motor Show, he said: "Anybody wants to negotiate with me. I'm interested in talking to him." Foreign media linked Malchone to Jacoby's statement and thought it was Fiat intends to align Volvo's suggestion.