Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Subaru Exiga.
When we showed you Subaru's new MPV last week your response was pretty much unanimous: man that is fugly. The car's reception on the other side of the Pacific has been a lot warmer though, particularly for the headlights' signature blue flash; the only criticism is that it's taken Subaru way too long to get this car to market.
Make the jump to read our initial impressions of the Subaru Exiga.
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Volvo XC70
While station wagons are a very big part of the European automotive landscape, here in the States the two-box design sells much better when it's a crossover. We Americans don't have many choices on the true wagon front, mostly because high volume demand simply doesn't exist. One wagon that has been around for a while is the Volvo XC70, which combines much of the rugged AWD utility of an SUV with traditional wagon packaging.
The XC70 is all-new for 2008, including its Ford Mondeo-derived platform, 3.2L engine and more refined sheet metal. On paper, the XC70 delivers a good-looking, safe and evolved station wagon to go head-to-head with upscale utility vehicles, but how will it hold up in the Autoblog Garage? Hit the jump to find out.
click above image for high-res gallery of the Cadillac BLS Wagon
Big derrieres can be hot if they're attached to the right body. We're talking about cars here, specifically wagons whose ample rumps allow you to haul more cargo while hardly carrying the stigma of a libido killing minivan. Wagons are still very popular in Europe, so Cadillac had the bright idea of building a wagon version of its BLS, a front-wheel drive entry level luxury car that's a Saab 9-3 beneath its skin. Don't call this a Sport Combi though, as the BLS gets it own sheetmetal, and the wagon unveiled in Frankfurt wore it well. It looks very much like a first-gen CTS that's been starving itself.
Cadillac is hoping that by offering European customers more choices, it will sell more cars, so in addition to the Wagon it's also offering Stabilitrak as standard equipment and two new engines for the BLS in Europe next year. The first is a 1.9L two-stage turbodiesel producing 180 HP and 295 ft-lbs., and the second is a 2.0L Flexpower engine that produces 285 HP and is able to run on E85 ethanol. Since the BLS is largely sourced from Saab, it should come as no surprise that the Flexpower engine is really one of the Swedish automaker's Biopower engines.
Check out GM's tiny press release after the jump and view our full gallery by clicking below.
"Obsessively covering the auto industry" means that when presented with an opportunity to check out some historically interesting cars, we do it. If you don't like station wagons, you might want to scroll down and check out one of our other articles for the time being. For the rest of you who grew up with the classic Detroit-style land barges, check out some of the pictures that we were able to snap last weekend's Station Wagon Owners Association of America convention. With the help of some Volkswagen media guys (who truly went the extra mile to get "the shot") and some station wagon lovers in attendance, we lined up a pretty cool shot that illustrates the progression of VW's station wagon offerings in America. This brings up an interesting point. Volkswagen wanted to show that it sees itself as being a genuine part of classic Americana. With vehicles like the Beetle, Microbus and Karmann Ghia receiving admiring stares from those who remember them from their youth, it's not hard to see why VW feels that way. Likewise, the next generation grew up seeing Volkswagen GTIs on the roads, effectively starting the "hot hatch" category. The Jetta is a particularly American success. While it is the best-selling Volkswagen here in the States, it's hardly mentioned in Europe. So, an argument could be made that the new Jetta Sportwagen belongs right beside the big American station wagons of yesteryear. And so that's where it went, as you'll see in the attached gallery.
While you may be able to successfully argue that station wagons have made a comeback thanks to such hipster sleds as the Dodge Magnum and SUV-inspired Outbacks from Subaru, the love hasn't spread to the Ford Focus Wagon, which has always been the black sheep of the Focus lineup holding down around 8% of the small car's sales. Thus, Ford announced on its fleet website that it will be discontinuing the Focus Wagon in December. While Ford is actually increasing Focus production as a whole to meet the U.S. market's newfound demand for small cars, it's decided to spend its resources on the high volume Focus sedan, 3-door and 5-door hatchback models. Though the Focus lineup will now be down to three models by the end of the year, soon enough the heavily revised 2008 Focus will appear and a two-door coupe will join the ranks in place of the discontinued wagon.
While station wagons are a very big part of the European automotive landscape, here in the States the two-box design sells much better when it's a crossover. We Americans don't have many choices on the true wagon front, mostly because high volume demand simply doesn't exist. One wagon that has been around for a while is the Volvo XC70, which combines much of the rugged AWD utility of an SUV with traditional wagon packaging. 
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