Hatchback
 |
Peugeot 306 Hatchback, with the hatch lifted and the parcel shelf tilted for access |
A
hatchback car is an
automobile design, consisting of a passenger cabin which includes an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind by a "hatch" tailgate or flip-up window. Most hatchbacks are distinguished from
station wagons by not having separate side windows over the load area. Hatchbacks are also often described as three-door (two entry doors and the hatch) or five-door (four entry doors and the hatch) cars. In Europe,
city cars,
superminis, and
small family cars are usually hatchbacks.
Small cars often incorporate a hatch tailgate to make the best use of available space. Especially in smaller models, hatchbacks are often truncated, with the tailgate nearly vertical, to reduce the car's footprint. This is an important consideration in countries where small streets and traffic congestion are factors. Hatchbacks frequently include fold-down rear seats, which enable a substantial portion of the interior space to be used as a cargo area. Usually, the rear seat can be folded partially (for instance 1/2, 1/3 or 2/3) or completely to expand the cargo space.
Hatchbacks typically have a parcel shelf: a rigid shelf covering the cargo space that is hinged behind the rear seats and lifts with the tailgate. An alternative is a flexible roll-up
tonneau cover.
High performance variants of hatchbacks are now common, known as "
hot hatches".
The credit for the first hatchback is claimed by several manufacturers. Holden of Australia fitted what could be described as "hatch" tailgates onto its cars in the late 1940s.
The 1953
Aston Martin DB2/4 featured a top-hinged rear tailgate. Its successor, the 1958
DB Mark III, even offered a folding rear seat. However, since fewer than 700 DB2/4 and Mark III cars were built, the Aston Martin is not universally considered the first mass-produced hatchback car. The 1954
AC Aceca and later
Aceca-Bristol from
AC Cars had a similar hatch tailgate, though just 320 were built.
Some car enthusiasts argue that the
Pininfarina-designed 1958
Austin A40 was the first car to introduce what is now regarded as the hatchback style. It introduced the distinctive lack of side windows over the load space and a rear tailgate rather than a boot. However, others argue that because its tailgate was split horizontally rather than in a single unit hinged at the top, it did not fully qualify as a hatchback. However, the 1962 Italian-built
Innocenti version (A40S Combinata) introduced a single-unit tailgate, so that the car then had all the features of the modern hatchback. [
1]
The
Citroën Traction Avant Commerciale, introduced in 1938, had a split tailgate, which was replaced by a one-piece design in 1954.[
2]
Two other early contenders are the 1949
Kaiser-Frazer Vagabond and Traveler hatchbacks. Although these were styled much like the typical 1940s sedan, they incorporated an innovative split rear tailgate instead of a trunk and folding rear seats. [
3][
4]
Supporters of the 1961
Renault 4 say that this was the first hatchback because its tailgate was a single door incorporating the window and hinged at the top. However, like the 1938 Citroën, it had the side windows over the load space that were typical of other estate cars of the time, making its styling less like the modern hatchback than that of the Austin. Neither was its top-hinged tailgate unique among estate cars of the time - the 1957 Vauxhall Victor, for example, also featured this type of tailgate. [
5]
Another car often credited with being the first hatchback is the
Renault 16, which was voted European Car of the Year on its launch in the autumn of
1965. The first car launched by the then-new
British Leyland (albeit a
British Motor Corporation design) was the 1968
Austin Maxi, a five-speed, front-wheel drive hatchback. The first all-Italian hatchback was the
Fiat 127, which went into production during 1971. The first
German hatchback was the
Volkswagen Passat (Dasher in North America) of 1973, followed by the much more popular
Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit in North America) in 1974.
The 1976
Rover SD1 attempted to introduce the hatchback style into the
executive car market.
By the early 1980s, most family cars produced in Europe were hatchbacks. The 1980s began with the launch of two more front-wheel drive hatchbacks: the
Ford Escort and
Lancia Delta. More similar cars followed over the decade, including the updated Opel Kadett (Vauxhall Astra), Renault 19,
Fiat Tipo and second generation Rover 200. Alfa Romeo's venture into this market, the Nissan-based Arna, was one of the few unsuccessful European small family hatchbacks of the 1980s.
The 1990s saw small family hatchbacks firmly pitch themselves as the most popular auto sector in Europe. The third generation
Volkswagen Golf was launched in 1991 and elected European Car of the Year, shortly after Citroën broke into the market with its
ZX. The ZX's chassis spawned the Peugeot 306 in 1993. Fiat replaced the successful Tipo with the distinctive Bravo (three-door) and Brava (five-door) in 1995. Ford replaced the long-running Escort with the dramatically styled Focus in 1998.
Hatchbacks quickly became regular winners of the
European Car of the Year award. However, in some countries, especially with larger cars where a
sedan and (usually liftback-type) hatchback is available for the same model, the sedans are often preferred. The same is true in certain regions like southern and eastern Europe, where some manufacturers have been forced to offer a local sedan version of smaller cars that are sold only as hatchbacks elsewhere to comply with the preferences of local clients.
Hatchbacks in North America
Hathcbacks became commonplace in
North America in the late 1960s and early 1970s as imports from
Japan and new models from America's Big Three automakers started appearing in showrooms, which were soon followed by European imports.
Chevrolet produced hatchback versions of its
Nova,
Vega, and
Monza models, and Ford offered a
Pinto "Runabout" hatchback in tandem with a trunked Pinto fastback. The European-built
Ford Fiesta was added later in the decade. Chrysler was late in producing hatchbacks for the U.S., developing the Volkswagenesque
Dodge Omni and
Plymouth Horizon twins with its European operations and placing them on sale in North America in the
1978 model year. Two low-slung hatchback coupes, originally part of the Omni/Horizon lineup but later marketed as separate cars under the
Dodge Charger and
Plymouth Turismo names, debuted the following year.
American Motors (AMC) joined the hatchback market at the start of the decade with America's first sub-compact, the
AMC Gremlin that was styled in the
Kammback fashion. AMC introduced a hatchback version to its larger
Hornet models in 1973. This model was restyled and renamed the
Concord while smaller version became the
AMC Spirit in 1979. However, the far more characteristic
AMC Pacer debuted in 1975. It was the first modern "
cab-forward" vehicle design that focused on interior space with short and rounded overhangs. The Pacer's aerodynamic and jelly bean shaped hatchback stood out among the square, formal, box-type designs that were prevalant all the way through the early 1980s.
The 1980s brought a new round of hatchback models. Ford offered an Americanized version of its third-generation
Escort in the United States as a replacement for the Pinto at the start of the
1981 model year. General Motors included a hatchback model as part of its J-car series (which included the
Chevrolet Cavalier), but this car emphasized sportiness more than versatility. Chrysler continued making its Omni/Horizon and Charger/Turismo models into the 1980s and added the
Dodge Shadow and
Plymouth Sundance twins, which were styled to look like trunked sedans, for the
1987 model year. Most of the hatchbacks GM and Chrysler offered at this time were sport coupes; the
Chevrolet Camaro and
Pontiac Firebird, for example, adopted hatch windows when the Mark 3 editions came out in
1982. American Motors, by then partially owned by
Renault, added the Encore to its larger Alliance models in 1983. The Encore came in two and four-door hatchback models and it was based on the European
Renault 11. These models were phased out after Chrysler bought out AMC in 1987.
Hatchbacks were popular in the U.S. and Canada during the fuel crises of the 1970s for their versatility and convenience, but many customers, especially Americans, preferred trunks to hatches. Conventional wisdom is that Americans have always found the styling of trunked cars more elegant and dignified than that of hatchbacks, and that they bought hatchbacks during times of high fuel costs because they had to. The poor quality and basic nature of many hatchbacks also gave them a reputation for cheapness. As hatchbacks grew in popularity in Europe in the 1990s, they declined in popularity in North America in that same period. Detroit manufacturers mostly switched to offering small cars with trunks; customers who wanted versatility began turning to sport utility vehicles as well as minivans. Volkswagen continued to offer the Golf (marketed with that name in North America since 1985), but by the end of the 1990s the Japanese appeared to have given up on hatchbacks; the
Toyota Tercel and
Echo were available in the U.S. in notchback form only, and the base
Honda Civic hatchback disappeared from Honda's North American lineup after the
2000 model year. By the early 2000s, the New York Times commented that hatchbacks were the automotive equivalent of sitcoms starring former "Seinfeld" cast members; "no one wants to be associated with them."
Ford and Volkswagen stubbornly held on to selling hatchbacks in North America, as Ford's
Focus debuted in 2000 with a hatchback model and Volkswagen's fourth-generation Golf included the base three-door model that the previous car had lacked. By the middle of the two thousand zeroes, in fact, a hatchback resurgence seemed to have taken place in the United States; the
BMW-built
MINI Cooper was a success, and the big three Japanese automakers all offered hatchback models by 2006; Toyota had the
Yaris, Nissan launched the
Versa, and Honda debuted the
Fit. Volkswagen, after an interminable delay, placed the fifth-generation Golf on sale in
June 2006 with the Rabbit name once again, accompanied by a high-profile ad campaign designed to make the car seem as cool as the MINI Cooper has been. DaimlerChrysler replaced the trunked
Dodge Neon with the
Dodge Caliber, a five-door hatchback designed to look like a miniature SUV, and Ford was rumored to be preparing its second-generation Focus - already available in Europe - for a North American launch.
SUVs,
station wagons and
minivans often have the top-hinged tailgate that is one of the features of the hatchback car. However, the term hatchback is typically used in reference to small cars, with a smaller trunk than other vehicles.
Many
sports and
mid-sized cars are also designed using a variation of hatchback design, sometimes called a
liftback. Here, the tailgate is angled down over the rear seats, and smoothly integrated into the tail of the car, resembling a
fastback or
sedan overall. This often improves
aerodynamic performance, resulting in a reduced
drag coefficient. Examples of these cars are the
Opel Vectra, the
Ford Mondeo and the
Renault Laguna.
Saab often used the term
combi coupé (or 'Waggonback' in the U.S.) for their take on the concept. Even some typical-looking
sedans (saloons) have hatch tailgates, such as the
Mazda6,
Hyundai Elantra,
Kia Spectra and the
Saab 9000.
Other similar body styles
*
Fastback*
Liftback* List of
car body styles*
Sedan*
Subcompact car*
Compact car*
Hot Hatch Forums*
The first hatchback? Pictures of the Innocenti Austin A40S*
Hatchmania forum
