The words Volvo and wagon are so often grouped together that you’d be forgiven for assuming the company made only 5-door models. Volvo broke a lot of well-to-do hearts when it announced that the private school mommymobile, the Volvo wagon, wouldn’t be a sure thing in the future. Volvo had weathered the SUV storm of the 90s and 2000s, but couldn’t compete with the more fuel efficient, less brazen SUVs of the modern era. So the wagon would die and its cause of death would read ‘phased out in favor of crossovers.’

Then someone at Volvo got a great idea. What if, instead of trotting out another XC crossover to fight an uphill battle against small crossovers like the Mini Countryman and Nissan Rogue and Mazda CX-5, you strip another layer of the mystique off of the SUV and offer people what they really want: a wagon. See, a crossover is just an SUV built on a car platform for better road manners and fuel economy, since most drivers don’t need to tow 5,000 lbs or go offroad. A wagon is just a crossover without the higher ride height, which most drivers don’t need since it adds nothing to the vehicle except a better view of the road (and who bothers to watch the road when phones today do so much cool stuff?). So Volvo decided to give the wagon one last round to try and eek out a decision (Lots of jabs. Keep moving. He knows you’re hurt, just don’t let him know how badly), or at least put on a good enough show to justify a rematch.

So Volvo is launching the 2013 V40, complete with crossover styling to convince potential buyers that it’s an SUV, just a really short one. The V40 will also get an adequately powerful five-cylinder turbocharged five-cylinder engine good for 0-62-mph in 6.7 seconds. The 2013 V40 will feature a low speed collision avoidance system that is capable of stopping the car on its own. The new V40 will also be the first car in the world to offer a pedestrian air bag.

That’s all great news, if Volvo decides to bring the car to America. Volvo is anticipating 85 percent of all sales to be in Europe, according to Autoblog, and that might mean the Swedish safety seller is still betting its success on sedans.