Typically, when we bring you spy shots of a vehicle out on public roads, it’s one that hasn’t hit the market yet. So what do we care if a Volvo V40 has been spotted out in the open? The car has been out for over four years now, after all.
In this case, it’s not so much the “what” as the “where” that has caught our attention. Because this particular V40 has been spotted in the United States – Colorado, specifically, wearing Arizona dealer plates. And Volvo doesn’t sell the current V40 in America. Never has.
What’s more is that we’re not just looking at one. We seem to have three examples here: one gold, one grey, and another grey Cross Country model. And they don’t even appear to be the current model, either: Volvo recently rolled out a facelift for the V40, and these appear to predate that update.
So what are they doing with these on American roads? We might deduce that the Swedish automaker was preparing to bring its entry-level model to the North American market, only at this point there’d be little point. The V40 will soon be replaced with a new model line, previewed by the 40.1 and 40.2 concepts, and (hopefully) developed with the US market in mind – which the V40 never was.
Maybe Gothenburg sent them over as test mules for new components, or maybe there’s some other completely benign reason for their being here. Either way, we wouldn’t expect this scouting party to presage the V40’s arrival in US showrooms. At least not in its current form.
Thanks to our reader Brett Borgard for sending in the shots!
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