10 Cars That Would Look Amazing As Wagons

Station wagons once represented a significant portion of the American car market, toting families across the country before SUVs took over as the dominant body style. Today, wagons are an afterthought, with only a few left on the market from a handful of brands. In fact, if you don’t count the Subaru Outback, which Subaru calls a crossover and sold 161,814 units in 2023, wagon sales only made up around a minuscule 4,800 units.

In other words, wagons made up less than a third of 1% of the US vehicle market in 2023.

With the Outback excluded, the following models on their own outsold every wagon combined: the BMW 8 Series, Mini Cooper Convertible, and Porsche 911. Lamborghini, as an ultra-low-volume brand, did not outsell all wagons in the US alone, but it was fairly close, with around 3,000 units in 2023. Wagons may not be staging a comeback any time soon, with AutoPacific data predicting sales will crater to under 1,000 units by 2027. That doesn’t stop us from loving the body style and wishing more automakers would build wagons. In fact, here are 10 cars that we think would be even better as station wagons.

10 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

Many car enthusiasts love the idea of a performance station wagon, so what better vehicle to choose as a base than the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing? Cadillac has a history of building luxury wagons, most recently the CTS Wagon from 2010 to 2014. That model spawned the CTS-V Wagon, which was the fastest and most powerful wagon at the time. With BMW set to bring back the M5 Touring, we’d love to see Cadillac strike back with a competitor based on the CT5-V Blackwing.

The modern Caddy wagon would use the same 6.2-liter supercharged V8 found in the sedan, dishing out 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque. Unlike the BMW, which will only come as an automatic, Cadillac could offer a six-speed manual, as it does in the Blackwing sedan. We’d even love to see a CT5-V Wagon powered by the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 with 306 hp and 405 lb-ft of torque. While not as outrageous as the Blackwing, a CT5-V Wagon could be a more affordable option that would still be more exciting than most of Cadillac’s current crossover lineup.

9 Toyota GR86/Subaru BRZ

Sports cars, like wagons, aren’t selling well anymore, but we have a solution: why not combine the two into one vehicle? SUVs and crossovers took over because of style and practicality, so let’s combat that with the style of a sports car and the practicality of a wagon. The 2024 Toyota GR86 and the 2024 Subaru BRZ would make the perfect base for such a vehicle due to their affordable starting prices and excellent driving dynamics.

The GR86 and BRZ are both 2+2 coupes with a surprising amount of practicality. Folding down the tiny back seats transforms the trunk into a usable space, but imagine how much more practical it could be if the car was a shooting brake instead. Raising the roofline in the back would open up more space in the trunk, making it easier to carry a set of track tires, extra baggage, or even the family dog. Affordable, fun, and practical. What more could you ask for in a car?

8 Alfa Romeo Giulia

American car buyers clearly prefer SUV styling to wagons, as evidenced by sales numbers, but what if they were given a wagon that’s so pretty they’d have no choice but to buy it? A 2024 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sportwagon would be just that. Alfa Romeo has built some great wagons throughout its history, including the 33 and the 156. The Italian brand is clearly devoted to crossovers like the Tonale, Junior, and the upcoming Stelvio replacement, but we think a Giulia-based wagon would help it stand out from other luxury automakers in the US.

If we had it our way, we’d base such a creation off the Giulia Quadrifoglio with its Ferrari-based 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 producing 505 hp. Sadly, the current QV models have been discontinued, so our dream Giulia Sportwagon would likely be based on the upcoming all-electric model. Still, the Giulia EV is rumored to produce over 900 hp in Quadrifoglio form, so a wagon variant would still be excellent.

7 Lucid Air

The 2024 Lucid Air sedan is currently the longest-range electric vehicle on sale in the US, with up to 516 miles of range. The upstart company is also working on an SUV called the Gravity that’s set to arrive later this year with around 440 miles of range. That would be a longer range than any other electric SUV on the market, but it’s significantly shorter than the Air can drive on a single charge. Instead of sacrificing 76 miles for the SUV body style, why not turn the Air into a wagon?

Stretching the Air’s roof would undoubtedly impact range, but there’s no way the drag coefficient would be higher than that of the taller Gravity. An Air Wagon could potentially keep the 500-mile range but add more storage space than the sedan’s 22.1 cubic feet. EVs need to be as sleek as possible to achieve the longest range, so they may be the perfect excuse to make the wagon body style popular once again.

6 Lexus IS 500

Remember the Lexus IS 300 SportCross? It was a funky-looking wagon variant of the first-generation Lexus IS, which was never brought back for the second or third-generation models. Though it’s pretty long in the tooth and overdue for a full redesign, the current IS is possibly the best-looking one yet, and it would look even better as a wagon. Extending the roof would give the car some added presence when combined with the wide fenders and muscular stance.

If Lexus were to bring back the SportCross, we’d prefer to see it based on the IS 500 F Sport Performance. This model packs a naturally aspirated V8 roaring out 474 hp. Like the original SportCross, this new model wouldn’t offer a manual transmission, but that V8 would be far better than the original non-turbo inline-six, which developed just 215 hp.

5 BMW Z4

Last year at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW teased a vehicle called the Concept Touring Coupe. Though it was clearly labeled as a concept, the Touring Coupe looked like a near-production version of a Z4 shooting brake. The 2025 BMW Z4 is only sold as a convertible roadster, but there is a precedent for selling a coupe model with an elongated roof. The Z3 M and Z4 M (also known as the M Coupe) ditched the folding soft top in favor of a fixed roof.

While the Z4 Coupe followed a more traditional design language with a rear hatch, similar to a Corvette or Nissan Z, the Z3 Coupe had a taller rear area, giving it an odd side profile. We wouldn’t call the old Z3 Coupe “pretty,” which is why BMW enthusiasts lovingly refer to it as the “Clown Shoe.” Bringing back this cult classic would be an easy way for BMW to win favor with a crowd that has been slowly drifting to other brands. Powered by BMW’s excellent B58 inline-six with 382 hp with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic, a new Z4 Coupe would be a winner.

4 Ferrari 12Cilindri

Though it has never distinctly labeled a car as a “wagon,” there have been Ferrari cars with this body style. Most of these cars were made by coachbuilders, but some, like the FF and GTC4Lusso, came off the factory floor in Maranello. Among the most famous Ferrari wagons is the 250 GT SWB Breadvan, which was built as a one-off by Giotto Bizzarrini for the Scuderia Serenissima racing team.

Bizzarrini was tasked with making the 250 GT competitive with the 250 GTO, so he created a more aerodynamic body that was lower with a shooting brake appearance. The French media called it “La Comionnette” (or little truck), while English speakers gave it the “Breadvan” name. Niels van Roij Design built an homage to the Breadvan based on the 550 Maranello, but we’d love to see a factory revival based on the new 2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri. What could be cooler than a shooting brake with an 819-hp V12 up front?

3 Genesis G90

Station wagons boast more space than their sedan counterparts, but the body style has never stretched above the mid-size class (think Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class) in recent history. But what if a full-size sedan became a wagon? Our pick for such a vehicle would be the 2024 Genesis G90. This is a car that looks stunning and packs enough technology to match a BMW 7 Series or Mercedes-Benz S-Class, albeit at a more “affordable” price point. A G90 Wagon would look stunning and deliver world-class luxury with practicality.

Genesis has only been its own brand since 2015, and it only started selling vehicles in 2017. In that short history, the brand does have a wagon, the G70 Shooting Brake, which isn’t sold in the US. We’d love to see a G90 Shooting Brake with similar rear-end styling, but bring it to the US. The G90 is already a low-volume product, so why not take a risk with something unique? So long as Genesis can keep the G90’s ultra-luxurious back seat, it sounds like a great concept.

2 Acura Integra

Acura has only ever built one wagon model, the TSX Sportwagon. It was based on the Honda Accord Tourer, which was never sold in the US and was only offered from 2009 to 2014. Acura sold about 10,000 total in the US, all powered by a 201-hp four-cylinder engine mated to an automatic transmission. Aside from the unpopularity of the body style, even back then, we think Acura severely misunderstood who its wagon buyers were and what they wanted from a vehicle.

Wagon customers are enthusiasts who choose a wagon out of a sea of crossovers and SUVs because it’s what they want. This person doesn’t want a base engine with a boring transmission; they want something fun and different. That’s why we are advocating for an Acura Integra Sportwagon. The Integra is already a hatchback, so turning it into a higher-roof wagon wouldn’t be too difficult. Just imagine a 2024 Acura Integra Type S Sportwagon with 320 hp and a manual transmission. It would be epic.

1 Bentley Flying Spur

Aside from a few custom commissions from the Sultan of Brunei and others like him, Bentley has never officially built a station wagon. With the success of the Bentayga SUV, it seems less likely than ever that the British luxury brand would venture into this segment, but we can still dream. The 2024 Bentley Flying Spur seems like the most likely candidate for such a transformation, though a Continental GT Shooting Brake would be excellent as well.

The W12 engine may be gone, but we still love the idea of a V8 or hybrid Flying Spur with a long roof. Bentley could easily create some ultra-luxury accessories for the rear, including a wine cabinet, stadium seats, hunting rack, or pet carrier. We even love the idea of the slide-out floor of the old BMW 5 Series Touring. Such a creation would likely sell in the hundreds, not thousands (possibly even in the dozens), but the few customers lucky enough to afford one would have something special.