Volvo has revealed the V40 Cross Country and V40 R-Design at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, and both are convincing.
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The sporty take on the new V40 is the V40 R-design, a cosmetic update for the already good-looking V40 that manages to bolt on go-faster bits without wrecking the good lines of the normal V40.
We would like to have seen the Volvo V40 R-Design get the sports suspension as standard, but Volvo obviously feel that most R-Design buyers want the looks rather than the more dynamic ride the sports suspension offers, so it stays as an option. And as the R-Design option is available across the new V40 range – from the D2 to the T4 – it’s probably the right decision.
The 2013 Volvo V40 Cross Country takes the new V40 in to the pseudo off-road market – more an ‘AllRoad’ V40 than an XC40 – and looks as convincing in the flesh at Paris as we’d hoped.
The V40 Cross Country rides higher than the V40 but manages to do so without looking like a V40 on stilts, and the butch add-ons to the bodywork are subtly done – just like the sporty makeover on the R-Design – making the Cross Country look like it’s a model on its own rather than a jacked-up V40 with bolt-on plastic cladding.
Both the Volvo V40 R-Design and Cross Country look set to add to Volvo’s sales expectations for the new V40.
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