The new Volvo XC40 is expected to launch in South Africa in April 2018, and the local arm of the Swedish automaker has just revealed indicative pricing for its fresh-faced baby crossover.

Volvo Car SA says the XC40 will launch locally in D4 diesel or T5 petrol guises, with the choice of R-Design and Momentum trim levels. All models at launch will ship standard with all-wheel drive.

Inscription derivatives are scheduled to arrive “later in 2018”, along with a broader engine line-up set to include D3 diesel as well as T3 and T4 petrol units, along with the option of front-wheel drive on some variants.

So, what sort of pricing are we looking at? Well, Volvo Car SA says the new XC40 will be “taking a strong fight” to its established rivals with “superior levels of standard specification”, revealing that the range (including all engine and trim derivatives) will retail from “under R500 000 to around the mid-R600 000 mark”.

That's pretty much on par with the BMW X1 range (which currently starts at R499 254 and runs through to R662 334) and Mercedes-Benz GLA line-up (priced from R487 566 to R658 576, if you exclude the fire-breathing Mercedes-AMG A45 at R862 628). The Audi Q3 range, meanwhile, is priced between R507 500 and R597 000, again excluding the RS Q3 performance variant (R882 500).

Original article from Car