April 1: Station wagon revival

My standard answer when it comes to station wagons, is that one has to be either poor (read "thifty") or rich. I say this because the only wagons available this side of the Atlantic are either inexpensive, like the Golf Sportwagon or quite a bit more expensive, like the Mercedes or BMW or Volvo or Audi. But happily that is about to radically change. This won't quite be a throwback to the days, where every soccer mom had a station wagon, but based on what is coming our way, they will be plentiful across the price spectrum and they will be called station wagons or maybe sportwagons.

Mazda teased us a couple of years back with their wagon that, is currently sold in Europe.......

This stunner has now been confirmed for North America and will be part of their 2017 line up. Will it have a diesel? This maybe April 1st, but even I couldn't get you to believe that lie.

In all these cases, these cars have been available in other parts of the world, so all they really need for our market is possibly a name change, like with these Toyota's.......

The top model, the Auris, is based on the Corolla, while the bottom one will be part of the Camry line. This is the Avensis, sold in most other markets. Heck, even Honda will add a station wagon to their Civic line.......

I've shown this one before. I think it's a beauty and a natural additional. But what about the Accord? Not sure yet, there have been rumblings that the European wagon will show up here shortly......

Who wouldn't want this one?

And VW, the economy wagon king, will finally let us have the Passat version.......

Again, give your head a shake, if you think that this one will have a diesel option. We might have had this Passat for 2016, if VW hadn't stumbled so badly over the emissions issue. But better late than never.

Buick's are to a large extent Opels, so it's no surprise to hear that they will send their wagons this way shortly as well........

This one will be inserted into the Regal line up, which is sold as the Insignia on the Continent. This is the sportier version - what a great looking ride. What youngster wouldn't want to show up at ______ (insert activity name here) in one of these.

And Ford, who for years was the wagon master on this side of the Atlantic, will be bringing over their Focus wagon........

......as well as the Mondeo, which is actually the Euro version of our Fusion........

Not sure what a "Mondeo" is, so maybe they should rename it Fusion for Europe as well. Either way, both are good looking wagons and they should find a home in our market.

Want to know how strong this new wagon market is (I thought you'd never ask), even Porsche will introducing a wagon shortly, as seen in this spy shot of it being road tested........

Sure they are calling it a shooting brake, but it's a wagon by any other name.

Being a wagon fan, I like what I'm seeing. Those suv's are great and have their place, but give me the handling of a car, or in this case a station wagon. Watch your local dealers for these announcements.

And have a happy April Fool's Day.

Until next time........