This is the new Mercedes Shooting Break, a sleek concept that gives a sneak preview of an estate version of the forthcoming CLS coupe-saloon.
The new car will be officially unveiled at this week's Beijing motor show and, as well as pointing the way towards the new CLS, will provide Mercedes with a rival for the Audi A7 and BMW 5-series GT.
Looking like the love child of an R-class, a CLS and the SLS AMG supercar (not that you can have three parents, but you know what we mean), the Shooting Break concept takes the tradition of the bespoke coach-built luxury estate shooting brake, and melds it with the four-door coupe concept of the CLS saloon.
The result is a further blurring of the traditional bodystyle boundaries, but one that indicates the future of Mercedes design, according to Mercedes.
"The Shooting Break concept car is based on the great tradition of a stylish, cultivated sportiness which has always characterised the great Mercedes coupes, and it takes this unique legacy an exciting step further," says Professor Gorden Wagener, chief designer at Mercedes-Benz. "At the same time it points the way towards the future design idiom of Mercedes-Benz."
The bold front end is particularly reminiscent of the SLS AMG. That will be identical to the four-door CLS - but the swooping rear end with its steeply raked hatch is unique to the Shooting Break.
Inside, the Shooting Break carries on the plush, cosy feel started by the original CLS with a bespoke interior quite different from the cabin of the E-class (on which the car's platform is based). It's also said to be very close to the interior of the production CLS, although some of the swish oak veneer and switchgear will most likely be toned down.
Underneath the bonnet of the concept is a new 3.5-litre V6 with 302bhp and 273lb ft of torque that will be one of two petrol motors offered in the new CLS. The other will be a turbocharged 4.6-litre V8 with 435bhp, while two common-rail turbodiesels will also be available.
More exciting, however, is the new CLS63 AMG, which is rumoured to be due for spring 2011, fitted with AMG's new 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8.