Volvo V50 Details, Photos and Videos

For the sedan variant of the car, see Volvo S40.

Volvo Cars introduced the Volvo V50 at the 2003 Bologna Motor Show as the station wagon version of the Volvo S40 small family car — manufacturing both models at their facility in Ghent, Belgium. Sharing the Ford C1 platform with the European Ford Focus and the Mazda 3, the V50 featured interior "theatre" lighting, a floating center stack and "Volvo Intelligent Vehicle Architecture".

The V50 T5 AWD featured all-wheel drive and a straight-5 2.5 litre petrol engine, with a light pressure turbocharger, four valves per cylinder and a DOHC design with variable camshaft timing — providing 220 PS (162 kW; 217 hp) and 320 N⋅m (236 lb⋅ft) of torque. Diesel options were available in Europe, including a 2.4 Litre turbocharged D5 diesel engine which provided 180 PS (132 kW; 178 hp) and 350 N⋅m (258 lb⋅ft) of torque.

Within the United States, Volvo limited sales of the V50 PZEV cars to states where it was required, including California, Florida, Vermont, Connecticut, Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Washington.

Volvo Cars Special Vehicle produced a concept car based on the V50, the V50 SV, whose engine produces 340 hp (254 kW), and debuted at the 2004 Specialty Equipment Market Association tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the model year of 2008, the V50 received revised front styling, minor modifications to the interior, optional active xenon headlights, audio systems, increased power and torque of the T5 engine, availability of the D5, with a six speed manual and a 1.8 Flexifuel engine.

For 2009, the V50 T5 was available in the United States, only as an automatic AWD model with the R-Design trim package, and within Europe with both manual and automatic options. As of the model year of 2010, the D5 inline five diesel engine was no longer available; only the 1.6l and 2.0l diesel inline four units could be specified.

In 2010, the new, larger, circular Volvo logo appeared on the front grille, in the United States, a manual transmission was briefly available with the T5 AWD version. In North America the naturally aspirated five cylinder engine, all wheel drive, and manual transmission were all dropped for the model year of 2011, leaving only the automatic, front wheel drive T5 in base and R-Design trims. The model year of 2011 was the last for the V50 in the United States and Canada.

Total produced: 519,007 from 2003 to 2012 (as of 31 December 2012)

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