Volvo Cars is to extend its range of compact cars into new segments on its highly-innovative Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), a smaller but equally advanced version of Volvo's acclaimed Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). The company's first car on CMA is expected to be launched in 2017.

CMA's introduction in 2017 means that all future Volvo cars will be built on just two fully scalable and wholly modular vehicle architectures.

The simultaneous development of SPA and CMA has formed the cornerstone of Volvo's product renewal and growth strategy, which involves the replacement of every single car in its lineup in the next four years and an annual sales volume of up to 800,000 cars. This process started with the launch of the XC90 and will continue shortly with the launch of the new S90 premium sedan.

CMA allows Volvo Cars to offer customers of compact cars the same type of premium engineering benefits as owners of its larger cars built on SPA. Shared technology between SPA and CMA will include powertrains (both conventional and new plug-in hybrid variants) and the infotainment, climate and data network and safety systems taking the Swedish car maker ever closer to its vision of no deaths or injuries in its new cars by 2020.

CMA will also change the way Volvo Cars builds its products in the future by allowing a wide range of cars, powertrains, electrical systems and technologies of varying complexity to be fitted on the same architecture, generating significant economies of scale and a more streamlined manufacturing process.