Tesla Model S shooting brake drives silently into our hearts
Tesla won’t be building it, though. The automaker isn’t even affiliated with it.
The world would be better with more station wagon-type cars, which is why a pair of Dutch companies should win next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Niels van Roij Design, a London-based Dutch design studio, unveiled the design for a shooting brake variant of the electric Tesla Model S hatchback. The term shooting brake goes back to the 19th century, but these days, it basically refers to a station wagon. Shooting brake just sounds fancier.
We’ve only been given sketches for the time being, but they look very promising. Everything under the belt line looks like a Model S, but up top, its hatchback shape has given way to a longer roof and a traditional wagon rear end.
While Niels van Roij Design has a handle on the looks department, it won’t be the company to actually build the thing. That falls to RemetzCar, a Dutch coachbuilder that was previously responsible for a different kind of long-roof Tesla Model S — a hearse. This new car will be a bit more suited to the living, although with that wagon rear end, you might be able to fit a casket in the shooting brake, too.
Order books are open for the Tesla Model S shooting brake — which, it should be noted, has absolutely no connection to Tesla itself — but the coachbuilder did not publish a price. Only 20 will be built, with a launch scheduled for the first week of March. Considering the Model S alone will set you back more than $60,000, I wouldn’t expect to walk away with a Model S sporting a brand-new custom body for anything in the five-figure range.
To be honest, it’s probably for the best that Tesla has nothing to do with this. Heaven knows that company is up to its ears in production troubles already.
