Volvo Cars' first entry into the small premium Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment is proving popular among car buyers, with global XC40 orders already exceeding 20,000 units. Delivery of cars to dealers started earlier this month.

Following its successful introduction to European and American customers, the XC40 will be launched in China, the world's largest car market, at the Beijing Auto Show this spring.

"With the XC40, we enter the fastest-growing segment in the industry," said Bjorn Annwall, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Brand and Retail at Volvo Cars.

"The XC40 completes our global SUV lineup, bringing the award-winning safety, connectivity and infotainment technologies known from our larger cars to the small SUV segment. These latest figures show that our customers clearly like what they see."

The arrival of the XC40 means that, for the first time, Volvo Cars has three new globally available SUVs in what is the fastest-growing segment of the automotive market, paving the way for further growth in sales and profitability.

The XC40 is the first model on Volvo Cars' new Compact Modular Vehicle Architecture (CMA), which will underpin all upcoming cars in the 40 series, including fully electrified vehicles. Co-developed within Geely, CMA provides the company with the necessary economies of scale for this segment.

The XC40 is also the first Volvo to come with a car-sharing feature, enabled via Volvo's digital key technology and its Volvo On Call connected services platform. XC40 owners can simply share their car with family and friends without having to hand over a physical key.