Look, we know we complain a lot about wagons we don't get, but this really is a shame. Even though leaked photos from before the Arteon Shooting Brake's official reveal suggested it would be modeled after Subaru's Outback, with a raised suspension and plastic fender cladding, that is not the case.

2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake R front three quarter 02

The actual Arteon wagon is far less Audi Allroad and more sleek and sexy sport wagon—closer to the sketch that VW originally teased. Losing a couple inches of fender gap makes all the difference, apparently, as the 2021 Arteon is quite the looker in Shooting Brake guise. We don't know what that lifted, pseudo-crossover-style Arteon was all about—surely it's coming to some market, somewhere—but we're glad that less graceful iteration is not around to explain itself.

Volkswagen hasn't disclosed dimensions for the Arteon Shooting Brake but says it wears different bodywork from the B-pillars back. Looking at it next to the standard fastback version you can clearly see the wagon has a larger and less narrow greenhouse opening, as well as a roofline that doesn't begin its downward slope until after it's crossed the rear passenger compartment. This extra height grants more headroom for both front and rear occupants, Volkswagen says, and the addition of a D-pillar increases max cargo volume only slightly, to 1,632 liters (or 58 cubic feet, based on Europe's more generous standard of cargo measurement) from the fastback's 1,557 liters (55 cubic feet). In both models, 60/40 split folding seats come standard.

Need some news that'll make the 2021 Arteon update a harder pill to swallow, provided you're in America? VW isn't just holding out on us with the wagon—it's also restricting a new, hotter Arteon R model to Europe. Not to be confused with VW's lesser R-Line trim, the Arteon R is a performance-oriented variant packing a 315-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive with R-Performance Torque Vectoring for the rear axle. Oh, and it comes as a Shooting Brake wagon, too.

So, why aren't we getting the Shooting Brake and fire-breathing R variants? The same reason we don't get a lot of other Euro-market cars in the U.S. The business case just isn't there. The Arteon is a low-volume car to begin with, and adding a wagon and performance model to the lineup is simply a bad bet to VW, which would have to charge even more than the near-entry-luxury prices the baseline Arteon already commands here. The Arteon R (Rteon, we'll call it) and Shooting Brake could easily overlap with full-blown luxury products here, including VW Group sibling Audi's A5 Sportback.