India bound Volvo V40 Cross Country helps Joe find himself [video]

Volvo India has confirmed that the launch of the Volvo V40 Cross Country is its next goal. The rugged version of the V40 hatchback will be available in dealerships from April onwards.

[can't view the video above? Head over to Youtube]

Like its family members in India, the V40 is a CBU (Completely Built Unit), arriving from Belgium where production began in November since Volvo is still conducting feasibility studies to ascertain the need of a CKD plant in emerging markets such as India.

The honest marketing department in Volvo describes the V40 Cross Country as an "expressive all-road version" of the V40 and not as a crossover. Volvo raised the ride height of the V40 hatchback (by 40mm), endowed it with a rough road package (contrasting front bumper, vertical DRL, honeycomb mesh grille and contrasting sills) and gave it new wheels to transform it into the V40 Cross Country.

Volvo expects to sell 17,000 units of the Cross Country in the world every year and there's a good chance that the rugged car-loving Indian market contributes a decent figure to the tally.

Price wise, the Cross Country will compete with the BMW X1, Audi Q3 and the forthcoming Mercedes GLA mini SUV expected in India by 2015.

There is a wide array of Ford powertrains to choose from but India should buy the Cross Country mostly in diesel variants. In Europe you can have your car with a 2.0-liter, 5-cylinder D4 turbodiesel with 177 bhp/400Nm, a 2.0-liter D3 that produces 150 bhp/350 Nm or with a D2 1.6-liter with 115 bhp/285 Nm mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. We'll have to wait and see which of these reach India.