QOTD: Should North America Have the Genesis G70 Shooting Brake?
Genesis teased the rather handsome G70 Shooting Brake (wagon) this morning, highlighting the brand’s ability to design sophisticated automobiles that don’t need to compete directly with the cost of your home. Unfortunately, just about every automaker on the planet has decided that wagons have no business in America. This includes Genesis. The manufacturer made it clear that the liftback G70 was designed specifically for Europeans.
While the body style used to be the king of the road, it was supplanted by the minivan in the late 1980s. By 1996, the last American full-size wagons (Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice Classic) were discontinued. The region had lost its taste for them and the industry has been operating under the assumption that the feeling has gone unchanged for thirty years. Aren’t we due for a resurgence?
While we had a surge of cool dads purchasing imported wagons in the early 2000s, almost every one of them upgraded to an SUV as their kids got larger. North America’s long, straight, and sometimes shabby roads also give wagons less of a competitive advantage on road trips. Many decided to prioritize interior volume and longer suspension travel, leaving wagons to become niche items catering specifically to driving enthusiasts wanting more space. That leaves the entire segment to a small number of Europhiles, automotive writers, those with eclectic tastes, and younger couples with some extra cash.
But that seems to be exactly who Genesis is targeting with the G70 Shooting Brake. Sadly, the brand floating us a couple of dozen just to see how it plays on the market isn’t cost-effective unless it’s a colossal success — and there’s very little evidence that it would be. Meanwhile, crossovers have filled just about every conceivable space more traditional wagons could have occupied. Whatever sliver of the market that has been left to their more sporting alternatives would likely be all the G70 could hope to snag.
From Genesis:
The G70 Shooting Brake will be an important model for Genesis. As a premium car, it will offer customers greater practicality, especially in Europe, and it will further expand the Genesis lineup to meet various customers’ needs.
The G70 Shooting Brake is the same size as the new G70, measuring in at 4,685 mm long, 1,850 mm wide and 1,400 mm tall, with a 2,835 mm wheelbase. Meanwhile, the luggage space is 40 percent larger than the G70 sedan and its rear seats can be split-folded in versatile 4:2:4 format.
Inheriting its design from the new G70 sedan, the G70 Shooting Brake’s signature Crest Grille is set lower than the Quad Lamps, which spread outward evokes a sprinter’s pre-race posture and highlight the model’s athletic design.
When viewed from the side, the combination of the single-piece glass hatch that extend to the rear and the “floating type” integral spoiler creates a unique impression to the exterior that communicates the G70 Shooting Brake’s athletic intent.
Everything else seems to be lifted directly from the G70 sedan with an obviously premium bent. Were it to come to our market, that would likely include the 252-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo or the juicer 3.3-liter V6 pushing 365 hp. But Genesis has not issued any information on the Shooting Brake’s powertrain options in Europe.
Maybe it’s not right for our neck of the woods. But some of us are dying for some fresh designs to populate our highways. What say you? Would you like to see the G70 wagon grace our shores or is this one better left to Europe?
[Images: Genesis]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Yes, though few will be sold, in the U.S.
It's lovely, but Americans won't buy it unless you add 1K pounds to make it as fat as they are, jack it up around twelve to sixteen inches to make handling inferior, efficiency worse, and add a ton of plastic cladding like mid-90's Pontiac. THEN they'll buy the snot out of it. Why? I couldn't tell you because I'm not stupid. Supporters of SUV/CUV's don't have any water with their supposed claims.