Sedan
A
sedan car,
American English terminology (
saloon in
British English), is one of the most common
body styles of the modern automobile. At its most basic, the sedan is a passenger car with a separate
hood (
bonnet in British English), covering the
engine in the front, and a separate
trunk (
boot in British English), for luggage at the rearâ€"the archetypical "3-box" car.
Historically, the usage of the term
sedan has changed over time. Several versions of the body style exist, including four-door, two-door and
fastback models.
A sedan seats four or more and has a fixed roof that is full-height up to the rear window. Most commonly it is a four-door; two-door is rarer but they do occur (more so historically). In the U.S., this term has been used to denote a car with fixed window frames, as opposed to the hardtop style where the sash, if any, winds down with the glass. As hardtops have become rarer, this distinction is no longer so important.
Two-door sedan
A two-door sedan is defined by the
SAE as any two-door model with rear accommodation greater than or equal to 33 cubic feet (0.934 m³) in volume (a calculation made by multiplying the legroom, shoulder room, and headroom). By this standard, the
Chevrolet Monte Carlo,
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, and
Mercedes-Benz CL-Class coupes are all two-door sedans. Only a few sources, however (including the magazine
Car and Driver), use the
two-door sedan label in this manner.
In the popular vernacular, a two-door sedan is defined by appearance and not by volumeâ€"vehicles with a so-called
formal roofline are called two-door sedans, while those with the more common sloping backlight are called coupes. This has led to the so-called
four-door coupe, which is a sedan with classic coupe-like proportions. The designation was first applied by Rover to a variant of its
P5 from
1962 until
1973. It has more recently been adopted by
DaimlerChrysler for the
Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, which the Mercedes marketing department has erroneously called the first four-door coupe. Other companies are leaping into the segment as well, but the term
four-door coupe is entirely aesthetical, and not the product of any formal definition. To make matters even more clouded, the
Mazda RX-8 meets the volume requirement to be called a sedan, but it has vestigial rear-hinged rear doors, making it a
2+2-door sedan.
Hardtop and fastback sedans
Sometimes a particular fastback or hardtop
car body style is referred to as a sedan. Both have the classic trunk (boot) at the rear of the vehicle. Classically a sedan will have a frame around the door windows, while the
hardtop has frameless door glass. The hardtop design can be considered separately (i.e., a vehicle can be simply called a four-door hardtop), or it can be called a hardtop sedan. During the 1970s, hardtop sedans were often sold as
sport sedans by American manufacturers. The more contemporary four-door sedans with B-pillars were called
pillared hardtops or
pillared sedans during this period. The
sport sedan term has since been appropriated for other uses. A fastback sedan is simply a four-door sedan with a sloping rear deck, but still a separate trunk. An example is the 1978â€"80
Buick Century. In a way, the discussion is entirely academic, since no fastback or hardtop four-door sedans are built today.
Hatchback sedan
Hatchback (a.k.a. liftback) sedans are often described as well. Here, the car has fastback profile but instead of a trunk lid, the entire back of the vehicle lifts up (using a liftgate or hatch). A vehicle with four passenger doors and a liftgate at the rear can be called a four-door hatchback, four-door hatchback sedan, or five-door sedan. An example of such is the
Chevrolet Malibu Maxx. There can also be two-door hatchback sedans (three-door sedans), by the same technical explanation for two-door sedans. An example of this type is the
Volkswagen GTI.
Sedan bodystyles on smaller cars are now less popular after the hatchback revolution during the
1970s (Except in the US, where sedans retain popularity), although many hatchbacks also form the basis of sedans. The first major
European manufacturer to phase out sedans in favour of hatchbacks was
Renault, who invented the hatchback (
Renault 4) in
1965. The 3-box sedan bodystyle is still used on almost all large and luxury cars, excluding the
Renault Vel Satisâ€"which has not been especially successful.
|
The Mitsubishi Galant, a midsize sedan. |
Origin
The word
sedan is possibly derived from a southern
Italian dialect derivative of Italian
sede "chair" (the first sedan was said to have been introduced from Naples). The derivation from the town of
Sedan in France, where it was said to have been made or first used, lacks historical evidence, according to
OED. The word
sedan was later used to refer to a
litter or windowed box containing a passenger seat carried by two or more bearers.
International terminology
In
North American English, the term sedan is used.
In
British English the configuration is called a
saloon and has its engine under the
bonnet at the front, and a
boot for luggage at the rear. The British English term is sometimes used by British car manufacturers in the United States: the
Rolls-Royce Park Ward was sold as a saloon in the United States, while the smaller
Silver Seraph was called a sedan.
In
Australia and
New Zealand, the American term is now used, albeit with the British terms of
boot and
bonnet being retained. In other languages, sedans are known as
Limousine (
German),
Berline (
French),
Berlina (
Spanish and
Italian), although these terms also may include hatchbacks. These terms, besides sedan, derive from types of
horse-drawn
carriages.
