New Volvo V40: Now it’s official

The new Volvo V40 finally arrives officially

After endless leaks of photos and videos, the new Volvo V40 has now been revealed officially ahead of Geneva 2012.

In the last two weeks we’ve had the 2012 Volvo V40 leaked all over, from a grainy scan to a full set of official photos and even a new V40 promotional video. But finally, Volvo has thrown in the towel and we get official information on the 2012 volvo v40 released.

And as we’ve already said, the new V40 looks to be a bit of a cracker. Good looking inside and out with some nice detail and nice touches, it looks every inch the compact premium car Volvo hope it is, and more than capable of taking sales from the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 – Volvo’s target for the V40 – and replacing the S40 and V50, which it does.

Engines on offer in the new V50 will be three petrol and three diesels, with the range-topper sporting a 5-cylinder, 254bhp petrol which looks like it will be good for decent performance with a 0-62mph of 6.7 seconds. Other petrol engines are a pair of 4-pot 1.6 litre turbo Ford engines with 150bhp or 180bhp.

Diesel engine V40 options will be a pair of 2.0 litre turbo 5-cylinder engines with either 150bhp or 177bhp, and a more frugal 4-pot 1.6 litre turbo with 115bhp which will offer 94/km emissions. All engines, whether petrol or diesel, manual or auto, get stop-start and brake energy regeneration. Later in its model life the V40 looks set to benefit from new 4-pot engines to replace the 5-pots

As you would expect with a new Volvo, safety features are front and centre, and the new V40 gets a smart pedestrian airbag system that pops the bonnet on impact and deploys a large air cushion at the base of the windscreen to catch the pedestrian. Which will be a lot less painful than flying head first through the screen after impact (been there, done that).

Other safety features in the new V40 include Lane Keeping Aid with haptic auto steering and a park assist pilot that makes parallel parking a cinch for those who would otherwise struggle.

The 2012 Volvo V40 will debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week and go on sale in Europe after production starts in May, with a target of 90,000 new V40s a year. Expect prices to start from under £20k.

(14 photos – click any thumbnail for full size)

By Cars UK