Volvo S40

The S40 sedan (and V40 and V50 station wagons) are compact cars sold by Volvo Cars. There have been two distinctly different models of the cars, the first launched in 1995, and the second completely-new model in 2004.

1995

The 1995 S40 sedan and V40 wagon were built in the Netherlands at the NedCar factory, a pre-Ford joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi Motors. It was criticized for being too similar to the Mitsubishi Carisma which shared its engineering, but sold well.

2004

The S40 was replaced for 2004 with a new design based on the Volvo P1 platform, co-developed equally by Ford, Volvo and Mazda. At the same time, the V40 was replaced by the V50 wagon, also based on the P1 platform. The S40 was nominated for the World Car of the Year award for 2005 and won the Canadian Car of the Year Best New Sport Compact award for 2005. It has also been elected the South African Car of the Year for 2005 by the South African Guild of Motoring Jounalists.

The S40's dimensions are as follows:

• Wheelbase: 104 in
• Overall Length: 176 in
• Width: 70 in
• Height: 57 in
• Weight: 3400 lb