• XC40 maintains its winning reputation, taking the Family SUV of the Year title in the 2021 What Car? Car of the Year Awards – the third time it has won the award
• Judges praise cabin space, practicality, quality and “top-notch” safety in their assessment
• XC40 previously What Car? Car of the Year on its awards debut in 2018, and Family SUV of the Year in 2018 and 2019
• Volvo’s Advanced Interior Air Cleaner system takes a runners-up spot in the Technology Award category
More than three years on from its launch, the Volvo XC40 premium compact SUV
continues to set the standards in its class, honoured as the Family SUV of the
Year in the What Car? Car of the Year Awards for the third time. It’s a fitting
culmination to a year in which Volvo’s best-selling model in the UK has also
been the premium market’s most popular SUV, taking the lead in one of the most
fiercely contested market segments.
In bestowing the award on the XC40 (specifically the T3 R-Design automatic
version), the What Car? judges commented: “It might be a few years since we
voted the multi-talented Volvo XC40 our Car of the Year, but it still cuts the
mustard. It blends generous passenger space and a practical boot with a quality
interior and top-notch safety, so you aren’t only buying a hugely desirable
product, but one backed up with real substance.”
Today, the XC40 range exemplifies Volvo’s far-reaching commitment to
electrification, with a line-up featuring two Recharge petrol-electric plug-in
hybrid versions (the T4 and T5) and two mild-hybrid petrol powertrains (the B4
and B5). Anticipation is also high for the first UK customer deliveries this
spring of the XC40 Recharge Pure Electric P8, Volvo’s first fully electric car.
Kristian Elvefors, Volvo Car UK Managing Director, said: “We are immensely
proud of what the XC40 has achieved and grateful to What Car? for this latest
award. The XC40 is our best-selling model in the UK and perfectly encapsulates
what our brand stands for in terms of design, customer appeal and the
application of new technologies for better performance, safety and
connectivity.”
The What Car? Car of the Year Awards also recognised Volvo’s pioneering work in
safeguarding cabin air quality, with a runners-up commendation for its Advanced
Interior Air Cleaner in the Technology Award category. The world-first system,
available now on many UK Volvo models, has proved its effectiveness in
filtering out up to 95% of PM 2.5 micro-particulates from air entering the car
through the ventilation system – particulates identified by the World Health
Organisation as highly damaging to human health.
-ends-