Monday's the day the automotive press gets spoonfed its scoops about things like the Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake, the station wagon that isn't a wagon, just like the 4-door coupe isn't a sedan.
Whatever, I'm sure there are families starving for such a ride in America, and they'll not only go along with Mercedes' semantic shenanigans, they'll happily trade in their third child as a down payment. Which is good, because the CLS Shooting Brake still only comes with four seats.
Mercedes Benz confirms production of CLS Shooting Brake [autoblog via dt station wagon shooting brake correspondent jj daddy-o]
Seems like the Germans need to play 'me too' with eachother. I see your BMW GT, I raise you my Audi A7. I see your Audi A7, I raise you my Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake. When they play this game with starting with a 3 series, we all win as these three deliver better and better sports sedans. When we start with the GT, a car that nobody asked for, we just get more and more of something nobody wants. Americans should be convinced to give wagons more of a chance and BMW, Audi and Mercedes offer excellent wagons. But these three examples offer less utility at greater cost than their wagons.
Also, the first CLS was unique and striking. The next generation (and it's Shooting Brake variant) is so much less so. The general coupe/sedan look is showing up in showrooms from VW to Hyundai making the whole look somewhat less distinctive.