Though some have panned the styling of Porsche’s Panamera sedan, we think the car’s lines do a reasonable job of making it seem sporty while linking it, design-wise, to the rest of Porsche’s product line.

That said, we’d also admit that it looks much better as a shooting brake, known on this side of the Atlantic as a station wagon. In fact, we called Porsche’s Panamera Sport Turismo one of our favorite cars from the 2012 Paris Auto Show, which is high praise indeed.

Not only does the Panamera Sport Turismo think outside the box in terms of styling, but the version shown in Paris featured a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that combined a 335 horsepower, supercharged V-6 with a 95 horsepower electric motor, making it an evolution of the hybrid system already available on Panamera S and Cayenne S models.

The parallel hybrid system used in the Panamera Sport Turismo also gives the car a 30 kilometer (18.6 mile) range on batteries alone, making it a sensible choice for those who like to drive, yet still have concerns about the environment.

In the words of Michael Mauer, chief designer at the Porsche Design Studio, the Sport Turismo demonstrates that there is “no contradiction between sportiness and functionality” with the concept. We couldn’t agree more, and sincerely hope that Porsche decides to put this model into production.