We’ve heard a lot about Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) over the past year, a modular platform that will underpin all of the Swedish automaker’s next-gen models sized from the S60 up, but what few may know is that Volvo is working on a second platform. The second platform is called the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), and as its name suggests it will be used for compact models.

After failing to find an external partner to develop the CMA platform, Volvo eventually turned to its Chinese parent company Geely. The two formed a joint venture in Sweden last year to start work on the CMA platform. Geely will build its own range of models based on the platform for the Chinese market, allowing the two automakers to share production lines.

Geely models are currently produced in China, and Volvo, which is ramping up production of its own cars in China, has said that it may export them to Western markets in the near future, including the U.S.

As for what models we can expect to ride on the CMA platform, these will include a next-gen V40 that will grow to become a proper wagon (the current model is based on an aging Ford platform), a replacement for the C30 (likely to be a five-door called the C40), and a compact crossover likely to be called the XC40.

The first CMA-based models from Volvo are expected in the next three to four years. The good news is that we should see some of them offered in the U.S.

_______________________________________

Follow Motor Authority on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.