If you wanted an indication of the scale of Hyundai’s ambitions for its premium Genesis brand in Europe, then look no further than the G70 Shooting Brake.
This station wagon version of the G70 sedan will go on sale only in European markets later this year. It will complete the Genesis range in Europe, which launches in the region with the larger G80 sedan and the Genesis GV80 SUV. Both open for orders in June.
The wagon has been developed to challenge the dominant BMW 3-Series Touring, Audi A4 Avant and Mercedes C-Class wagon. Other rivals have tried to compete with the German luxury brands in the past and almost all have failed.
A wagon was once considered a must-have if you wanted to compete in the premium midsize sector. However, the growing dominance of SUVs persuaded other luxury brands to stay out of the segment.
Alfa Romeo, for example, decided not to build a wagon version of Giulia and neither did Jaguar with the XE. Both previously had built wagons – Alfa with the 159 and Jaguar with the X-Type.
Lexus briefly offered the SportCross wagon version of the first IS midsize from 2003 but dropped it for the second-generation model and has since cut the IS from its European range altogether.