Genesis considering G70 wagon for Europe

Three years ago, a year before the Genesis G70 had come to the U.S., digital artist X-Tomi Designs had already dreamed up a G70 wagon (pictured). That fancy has come partly true: Genesis does have a wagon in mind, but for the European market. Car and Driver reports that recently promoted global brand CEO William Lee replied to the question of a G70 wagon with, "Yes, we have a study for that." If the study turns into a production model, the G70 shooting brake would be based on the upcoming, facelifted G70 due next year. 

C/D says there's no evidence this will come to the U.S., a kind way of saying there's precisely zero logical rationale for it here. Genesis is still planning its European assault, a timeline that's been stretched from original planning when the automaker reportedly intended to have a boutique operation up and running early this year. An Automotive News report last summer suggested it could be a couple of years from now. Even so, despite of the increasing popularity of crossovers in Europe, wagons are still a viable — read: profitable — bodystyle for luxury makers over there, and will likely be so when a potential long-body G70 shows.  

That's not the case in the U.S. Rehashing numbers from a CNBC report last October, the U.S. wagon market took up 1.4 percent of U.S. auto sales in 2018, the Subaru Outback accounting for 1.2 percent. Sure, Audi has the Allroad and has blessed us with the new RS6 Avant, but the Ingolstadt automaker sold 3,240 A4 Allroads last year out of 224,111 total sales. Across the luxury aisle, Jaguar's set a gutting example with the well-liked XF Sportbrake, dealers trying to shed inventory with discounts up to $30,000. As much as we'd like to make the obligatory references to a hot-driving, manual-transmission-equipped, brown wagon unicorn, which a G70 wagon could certainly be, it feels like goading an automaker to lose money.

None of this is to say Genesis, known for conceptual and production surprises, won't ship a wagon across the Atlantic. But with a six-model lineup already planned, we think it more likely for Genesis let the coming GV70 crossover establish itself in the market first.

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By Jonathon Ramsey