With Ferrari announcing their GTC4Lusso it means that the car industry will have another shooting brake but this not necessarily a term that everyone is aware of. So what exactly is a shooting brake?
History and origin
The term 'shooting brake' dates back to the 19th century and described vehicles that carries shooting parties and their equipment. The 'brake' part of the term was first used for the chassis used to break in horses before being applied to motorised vehicles. In the modern day however the term is a little bit more ambiguous but is normally given to estate cars with a flowing roofline or a 2+2 coupe. They normally come in the two door form although there are some four door examples such as the Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake.
What's so good about them though? The idea is simple, you get the added practicality of an estate car with it's extra load space without compromising the looks or sporty character. This first 'modern' example of the Shooting Brake was the Sunbeam Alpine Shooting Brake Estate Wagon that was launched in 1960. They introduced this model in a bid to entice a more masculine consumer base as the convertible was seen as feminine.
The world then saw Aston Martin's DB5 Shooting Brake in 1965 which looked like a regular DB5 that had been stretched and in my opinion does not have the same elegance and majesty of the standard version made famous by James Bond. The car came about when David Brown who was then the owner of Aston Martin found that the regular DB5 did not provide enough room for dogs and sports equipment. At the time Aston Martin were too busy to produce such a model so it was down to coachbuilder Harry Radford. The model became quite popular with customers and after demand was generated it went into general production.
Three years later Reliant released their Scimitar GTE (SE5) which featured Ford's 3 litre V6 engine attached to a 4 speed manual. This gave it a claimed top speed of 120 mph although in 1972 it was given a bit more oomph which raised the top speed by only 1 mph. 1975 saw the introduction of the (SE6) which was aimed more at the executive market and was wider and longer than the SE5. It was also better looking too in my opinion and also featured Ford's V6 engine until it was replaced by the 2.8 litre V6 instead.
In 1972 Volvo released it's 1800ES which the Swedish brand brought in to update the 1800 coupe whilst offering a car with a practical hatchback rear. It was powered by a 1986 cc Bosch engine which gave the 1800ES 135 bhp. As only 8,000 were only made they are very rare and there are very little pristine examples left in the world.
We then fast forward to 1992 where we return to Aston Martin, this time it's the Virage Shooting Brake. Costing £165,000 brand new it had a 5.3 litre V8 engine and were made in very little numbers after debuting at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show.
Back to Volvo now and with their C30 which was released in 2006 which boats a glass hatch, much like the 1800ES. It came in a variety of engine choices with the top one on offer being a 2.5 litre petrol which sat in the T5 Turbo. It also had 'DRIVe' diesel engines with improved efficiency and had the option of stop/start.
2008 saw Volkswagen bring back their Scirocco in what is currently it's third generation. Based on the underpinnings of the Golf Mk5 this smart looking motor gave an attractive alternative to the Golf GTi. It's range includes three 1.4 TSI engines, one of which comes with BlueMotion technology as well as two 2.0 litre TDI diesels and a 2.0 litre TSI. In 2009 they launched the uprated R which had a 2.0 litre engine which offered 264bhp compared to the standard model's 207. Last year saw the introduction of the gorgeous GTS which has the same 2.0 litre engine, this time producing 217bhp.
Ferrari introduced it's first four wheel drive car in 2011, the FF. It had 6.3 litre V12 engine which brought a top speed of 208 mph and 0-62 mph was dealt with in 3.7 seconds. It's four wheel drive system was patented by Ferrari and named 4RM. Ferrari first used this system in a prototype at the end of the 80's but it wasn't until 2011 that they installed into a production car. In 2011 it won Top Gear magazine's "Estate Car of the Year" award but is no longer produced after being replaced by the Ferrari GTC4Lusso.
Last on the list is the Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake which has questionable styling if you ask my opinion. Launched in 2015, it shares the same length and wheelbase as the four-door coupe but offers more loadspace with 495 litres in standard form or 1354 litres when the rear seats are down. It comes in four trims, Sport, AMG Sport, Engineered by AMG and AMG. Mercedes also released a special edition called 'Orange Art' which features bright orange detailing both inside and outside the car.
The new Ferrari GTC4Lusso will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show but it is unconfirmed when it will be available to buy.