The term "shooting brake" doesn't mean what it used to. At least not to the Germans. What was once reserved for three-door wagons is now applied to Deutschland's sleekest five-door wagons, like the extended-roof Mercedes CLA and CLS. Now it seems that Volkswagen is following suit with a "shooting brake" of its own.

In a German-language press release picked up by our friends at Motor1, Volkswagen revealed that it's preparing to build an otherwise undisclosed shooting brake at its plant in Emden plant in Lower Saxony, about four hours west of its headquarters in Wolfsburg.

The factory is where Volkswagen currently produces the European-market Passat, including the Passat Variant and Passat Alltrack wagons – but more to the point, also the sleek Arteon four-door fastback.

The automaker is also preparing to move the bulk of Passat production to Skoda's factory in the Czech Republic while expanding the Emden plant to accommodate assembly of its forthcoming line of ID-branded electric vehicles. But the new shooting brake is slated to be built in the existing facilities. It provided no other details as to what the vehicle will look like or when it will emerge, but it's safe to say it'll be based on the same architecture that underpins the Passat and Arteon.

The bigger question on our mind is whether Volkswagen will offer the planned shooting brake in North America, and we have to admit that the chances seem slim. Although it does offer the Arteon over here, VW recently announced that it will discontinue offering the Golf SportWagen and Golf Alltrack in the United States, where demand for wagons has been dropping off.

It is encouraging, however, that its Audi division has announced that it will sell the new RS6 Avant performance wagon over here, much as sister-brand Porsche offers the Panamera Sport Turismo in America. But those are much more expensive vehicles than the Arteon, high as it sits in VW's lineup.