If you assumed that the rapid rise in popularity of crossovers over the past decade might have cannibalised estate sales in the UK, you wouldn’t be completely correct.

It turns out that an increasing number of Brits are opting for bigger-booted models in recent times. Sales grew from 413,947 in 2014 to 573,266 in 2016, marking an increase in demand of nearly 40%.

Then on the continent in Germany, around 60% of sales in the premium class that the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Jaguar XF fall into are for estates, so the XF Sportbrake will likely outsell its saloon sibling there.

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It therefore has real potential to become a significant money-maker for Jaguar, not least because its adoption into the XF model plan early on has made producing it much more cheaply than the previous XF Sportbrake. It will also enter the US market for the first time. Sales of estates there aren’t particularly high (188,959 were sold in 2015), but demand for them remains consistent.

The XF saloon has a good reputation for being the best-handling car in its class. If those traits can be successfully transferred to this estate version, it will stand it in very good stead.