Spy Shots : 2012 Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake

Summary :

CLS Shooting Brake (Estate / Wagon-coupe) to debut by mid 2012
Estate version of the CLS

This decade is the decade of cross-segment models. Frankly, until today, we still have no idea on where exactly do we put cars like the BMW X6, Audi A7, VW Passat CC and Mercedes-Benz CLS on a product segment competitive matrix chart. It just keeps changing depending on what are we looking at.

Next year, we will see the first Mercedes shooting brake body type vehicle. The shooting brake term generally refers to a 2-door estate car. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly at which point in time and why did such a counter-intuitive term is adopted to describe a sporty looking estate (or if you insist, a wagon). And to make things more complicated, shooting brake is also now also used to describe a 4-door estate with sports car like proportions. But if you compare the the silhouette of the CLS Shooting Brake, how different is that from a Porsche Panamera, which is actually a very large hatchback.

Since the definition of a shooting brake is so loose, is a Toyota Caldina a shooting brake then? It does have a swooping roofline, it is not quite a regular estate / wagon body type car. It is a quasi hatchback, and most importantly, performance oriented. But in sensible Japan, nobody calls their cars “shooting brake.” They will probably answer nani?

2010 Mercedes-Benz Shooting Brake Concept

Terminologies aside, the CLS Shooting Brake is already in its final stages of development. Although the actual name adopted may or not feature the Shooting Brake term, given that it is so confusing. I can imagine Mercedes sales people spending more time explaining the meaning of shooting brake rather than actually selling the car.

The final production should look very similar to the new CLS sedan. More images in the gallery below.
Source : Secretnewcars.com