SPY PICS: Volvo's five-door hatch to remain a C30?

Volvo will introduce both three-door and five-door variants of a new model to replace the current C30 in the Swedish brand's product range.

The pics published here, courtesy of the master spy photographers at Carparazzi, clearly show one of the five-door variants. According to Carparazzi, it's not certain that the five-door model will be named C30; it may be named V30, in recognition of its added doors.

That seems unlikely to us, since Volvo has been fairly careful to distinguish between wagons and hatches in the past. Perhaps there'll be some altogether new letter of the alphabet for this variant with its added doors.

The photographers say that the C30 five-door will be pitted against the VW Golf in Europe, but that's an unlikely scenario in Australia, quite obviously. Here it's probably going head to head with Audi's A3, we expect — and Volvo hasn't had a five-door model to rival the A3 Sportback in the past, but that's about to change.

Audi, working on a sedan version of the A3 might enjoy taking some market share off Volvo's S40, in retribution for Volvo pricing its XC60 below the entry level of the Q5… who knows?

Carparazzi, from having viewed the five-door Volvo hatch up close — but at speed — couldn't be definitive about the car and how it will look, other than to remark that its front and rear aspects are typically current Volvo corporate style. The vehicle will be launched early next year.

— with Carparazzi

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