2013 Volvo V40 Cross Country

The new Volvo V40 was signed off for production at the first board meeting after the takeover. It was ready, developed within Ford’s Global Shared Technology programme, and represented something that Volvo hadn’t had before: a mainstream five-door hatchback.


Volvo had always taken pride in offering cars that bridged the conventional size and price classes. Stefan Jacoby, recruited by Geely from Volkswagen to be chief executive, thought this was nonsense and declared that henceforth, Volvo would compete on equal terms with its rivals. Evidently Volvo’s last Ford management thought the same, as the V40 had been designed from the outset as a class competitor with the VW Golf and Ford Focus – or, as Volvo saw it – the premium Audi A3 and BMW 1-series.