British company builds first Tesla Model S shooting brake

Didn't we just hear about a Tesla Model S shooting brake conversion, you might be asking? Why yes, we did — plus this stretch limo conversion just yesterday. But this here is a new wagonized Model S, from a British customizer that touts it as "the world's only and fastest electrically powered SportsWagon." It's also finished, or at least pretty close to it, whereas the Dutch version won't go on sale until March.

The vehicle comes to us via Qwest Norfolk, an outfit that appears to have been launched specifically for this project. Qwest says the idea was hatched in a local pub — as all good British ideas should be — when a "successful businessman" complained to his engineer mate that the fastback-style hatch on his Model S lacks sufficient head room for his dogs. "The wish was that the Tesla had an Estate, a proper large estate, a shooting brake, that long lost vehicle format reserved for the annals of history, reminiscing over Volvos and Peugeots of the past long before SUVs and MPVs ruled the planet," Qwest writes. Jolly good.

Anyway, the firm says the design needed to complement the "muscular" stance and style of the Model S while adding more cargo space and access. Just how much cargo space was added isn't clear, but Qwest bonded specially built carbon-fiber rear-body and roof shells to the standard aluminum Model S body, which weren't expected to add material weight to the car. It also added specially built rear three-quarter glass and rear roof glass.

The team says it also made Tesla aware of its project from the outset. "They're very content, as long as we don't mess with any of the electrics," Jim Router, the firm's engineering director, said in an episode of the "Fully Charged Show," embedded below.

The verdict? It's not as sleek, sexy and concept-y looking as the sketches of the Model S shooting brake being built by Netherlands-based RemetzCar, but it's still a pretty nice-looking wagon, and almost certainly offers more cargo room. Plus, it beats the latter to the title of the world's first Tesla Model S shooting brake by a few months, so that's probably worth tipping a pint or two.