Germany's obsession with creating niche segments in hopes one will become the home-run hit that makes its company richer has gone far enough that it's almost its own meme by now. First, it was the four-door sedan, then the SUV-coupe, and it can be argued that both of those were inspired by the motherlode of mashups, the one that's defined the past decade: the car-based SUV, also known as the unibody SUV, also known as the crossover.

Not even the BMW 8 Series nameplate was spared from the change. What began as a V12-powered coupe with a manual transmission eventually morphed into what we have now, a coupe and convertible offered with a turbocharged V8 and an automatic transmission. And, as of last week, the 8 Series is now available as a four-door Gran Coupe.

Giving the Gran Coupe some styling elements from the coupe allowed BMW to justify giving the 8 Series its name in the first place. And we're only giving the Gran Coupe a pass because it looks so good, in full knowledge that if BMW really wanted to do enthusiasts a solid, it already knows what it needs to do. Make an 8 Series wagon (or Touring in BMW talk), of course. That'll never happen, unless hordes upon hordes of crazed wagon-lovers stampede into their local BMW dealerships with cash in hand and demand it, but that's why this world has rendering artists, right?

This particular 8 Series Touring render comes from another expert artist, X-Tomi Design, and features a design we could get behind. One big reason is that it amends the styling mistakes made on the 8 Series Gran Coupe. Namely, the fact its rear lip is so tall that it makes the trunk lid look too high, almost like the 6 Series Grand Touring.

Thankfully it's not nearly as awkward-looking, but this 8 Series Touring's rear end manages to look less cumbersome than even the Gram Coupe's thanks to the way the now-flat roofline seems to give the body's character line more credence, and because the rear window slants perfectly over the rear lip so the two can connect and give the 8 Series a shooting brake-esque look.

While it's futile to beg BMW to build this, maybe some talented and perfectly deranged tuner will get ahold of this picture and get to work on a real-life version.