Volvo V40 Cross Country & V40 R-Design: Paris 2012

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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Volvo has big expectations for the new 2012 V40 (and justifiably so – we have one in this week and it really is very good) and now, just six months on from the V40’s official debut at Geneva 2012, we have the range extended in to more niche areas.

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.

Volvo V40 R-Design Photos >>

Volvo V40 Cross Country Photos >>

Volvo V40 Photos >>