Volkswagen is playing it pretty safe these days. It's on a conquest to become the world's largest automaker by 2018. To accomplish that, it must also dominate the US market. That means a safe, if not somewhat conservative, lineup. The US-spec Passat is proof. Fortunately the GTI isn't going anywhere, but if you look at the rest of VW's newest US cars, you'll notice they're only getting bigger and more in tune with the average car buyer.

That's not entirely bad, but it does mean models like the Sirocco have less of a chance of arriving stateside. So that's why our hopes for this rendered VW Shooting Brake are already gone. Rendering artist Theophilus Chin has just created what a potential VW wagon with rear-wheel-drive could look like. We totally dig it - and it'd be even better if it had the GTI's turbocharged 2.0-liter four under the hood. But sadly, this rendering will always remain just that, a rendering.