Volvo has now revealed the look of the 2008 model year for two of their vehicles, the S40 sedan and the V50 wagon.

The physical changes for these two vehicles had basically been gotten from the styling cues of the topline 2008 Volvo S80 sedan. The S40 has been given a lower and wider stance that is emphasized by the new Volvo grille, Volvo headlights, and air intake that has a lengthwise flow under the bumper. It also sports a larger Volvo badge which makes the entire treatment simpler than the design of the previous models which are of three-element style.

On the other hand, the Volvo V50 has a black egg crate grille that’s the same with the S40. The only difference is that it has three lower air intakes.

At the S40/V70’s rear end, the Volvo tail lights are raised 30 millimeters and now house LEDs. The bumpers also had a facelift as they now appear broader and have integrated reflectors on its corners on the bottom.

Steve Harper, who is the one in charge for updating and improving the design of the S40 and V50 said, “The improved shape and position of the exhaust tailpipes is a good example of how a little extra visual touch can create a highly potent impression.”

Another Volvo car part that has been improved is the brake light. It now has the function of Volvo’s emergency brake light. This functions when the driver brakes too hard, it would cause the brake lights to flash real quickly to warn the following drivers.

Another innovative feature is the optional Bi-Xenon headlights at the front end that has an active swivel function. It aims the direction of the beam light to where the car is going that is based on the speed and position of the steering wheel.

The S40 and the V70 each have three different versions of engine. The standard engine is a 2.4-liter DOHC inline five-cylinder producing 168 horsepower and it has a choice of a five-speed manual or automatic with Geartronic sequential manual shift mode. There are two T5 models that are available in either front or all-wheel drive. This T5 has a 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder twin cam engine turbocharged to produce 227 horsepower.

Prices for the S40 quoted in Cologne were $31,495 for the base S40, $37,495 for the T5 and $39,995 for the T5 AWD. The V50 starts at $32,995, $38,895 for the T5 and $41,495 for the T5 AWD. The sunroof adds $1,400 and the Geartronic automatic is an additional $1,500.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 1:52 am and is filed under Volvo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.