Forgive the skepticism.

It’s not that I’m a huge fan of station wagons — I simply am not a fan of minivans and SUVs. But I lust after an Audi RS6 Avant, and a red Volvo 740 Turbo with a stick was once in the crosshairs of my desires. And why isn’t an Audi 100/200 Avant Turbo more popular among 1980s collectors? A better shooting brake the Brits couldn’t build!

That Volvo will be station wagon-less in 2026 is a remarkable turn of events for a company whose character often depended on the wagon (at least in the U.S.), but also, let’s not forget that Volvo was a leading European brand in the American market for quite awhile. Today, Volvo almost feels niche, a second-tier brand of SUVs.

That could change. Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson recently told Motor1 that “I think we believe that the market may have gone a bit too far into a single SUV market. I don’t think 10 years from now, we will only have SUVs from Volvo … I think it’s not revealing too much that I think we will not only have SUVs five years from now.”

Yes, that sounds nice, but why would anyone hold his/her breath? By that time, my utilitarian needs will be different. C’est la vie …

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz’s Head of Exterior Design told Autocar that “nobody is buying them … We have three regions. Nobody is buying them in America; we tried the shooting brake [version] of the CLS and nobody bought it. The Chinese don’t understand them and don’t buy them. Then Europe is left, and if you look at a Mercedes E-Class, it’s pretty expensive — so who can actually buy a car like that in Europe?”

It’s a folly to think the world will not move on and coddle my chosen stagnation, so it makes no sense to get up in arms about the loss of anything. What may be more fuss-worthy is how European automakers produce wagons but don’t import them to the U.S. But who can blame them when the cost to certify them for American safety and emissions standards will be greater than the potential profit?

Nope, I’m not holding my breath for this one, but you can look to Polestar for a lifeline. Plus, I’d rather focus my energies on the preservation of manual transmissions and other things that have made the American automotive market fun.