Volvo XC40 1.5 litre T5 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrid DEBUT – in a Geely

The Volvo XC40 will get a T5 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrid option later in 2018, but it looks like its first outing will be in a new Geely model in China.

The new Volvo XC40 is starting to appear on UK roads after its debut last year, and although all you could buy to start with was the XC40 First Edition, the complete UK Volvo XC40 range is now on sale.

But although Volvo is now offering a full range (well, it seems, apart from the R-Design Pro and Inscription Pro trim) the initial offerings were all Volvo’s four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. But that’s starting to change.

A few weeks ago Volvo announced the first 1.5 litre three-cylinder engine option for the XC40 – the XC40 T3 – as the first three-cylinder engine in the Volvo range, and we’re expecting the next update for the XC40 will be the arrival of the XC40 T5 Twin Engine plug-in Hybrid.

Volvo has already promised the plug-in hybrid option for the XC40 will arrive in 2018, but it looks like it will firts appear not in a Volvo, or even a Lynk & Co model, but in a Geely model.

According to Chinese media, the new Geely Borui GE (also known as the Geely Emgrand GT) will debut in China on 9 April, and it will come with a Volvo plug-in hybrid powertrain, which looks like it’s the same as the T5 Twin Engine heading for the XC40.

The Chinese media don’t have specific details yet, but it seems it will feature a 1.5 litre petrol engine with around 179bhp, plus an electric motor and batteries.

That sounds much the same as the set-up Volvo outlined when the XC40 Concept was revealed back in 2016, which had a 179bhp petrol three-pot and an electric motor delivering around 75bhp for a total of around 250bhp – much the same as the petrol T5.

But the big difference will be in headline economy and UK BIK rates, with the plug-in XC40 expected to deliver the usual daft official economy figures for a PHEV – in the region of 180mpg – low official Co2 emissions and an electric-only range of around 30 miles (probably 20 miles in the real world).

More when we get it.

Volvo XC40 Photos