The Volvo S40 and V40 (introduced in 1995) were not supposed to have these designations. These were to debut the brand's new naming system, replacing the three digits that identified Volvos for decades with an alphanumeric designation, composed of one letter and one digit only.
Instead of S40 and V40, both models should have been born as S4 and F4 — Sorry, F?! Yes, “F”. Volvo vans, currently impossible to disassociate from the letter "V", should be identified by the letter "F", for Flexibility, while the "S", which remained, came from Sedan or Saloon, that is, saloons. of three volumes and four doors.
The appellation quickly gained objection from Audi. The S4 was the fastest of the Audi 100 and would become the sporty variant of the A4. Volvo was forced to change the name, and simply added a zero — S4 would become S40 and F4 would become… F40?! Um… Ferrari might have something to say about that.
Solution? Replace the letter "F" with the letter "V", which turned out to be equally appropriate — "V" for Versatility. Finally, after a somewhat bumpy introduction, the Volvo S40 and V40 were ready to take over the market.
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