A notchback is a car design with the rear section distinct from the passenger compartment and where the back of the passenger compartment is at an angle to the top of what is typically the rear baggage compartment. Notchback cars have "a trunk whose lid forms a distinct deck." In profile view, the body has a step down from the roof with a downward inclined passenger compartment's rear window to meet an almost horizontal trunk lid extending to the rear of the car. The category may be characterized as having a three-box design where the trunk volume is less pronounced than the engine and passenger compartments. Many models of

sedans A sedan (American English) or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of ''sedan'' in reference to an automobile body oc ...

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

s, or

hatchback A hatchback is a car body style, car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row sea ...

s could be classified as notchbacks. However, the category has limited salience outside American car manufacturers, who distinguish the three-box models from other body styles in the same model range. For example, the

Chevrolet Vega The Chevrolet Vega is a Subcompact car, subcompact automobile manufactured and marketed by General Motors, GM's Chevrolet division from 1970 until 1977. Available in two-door hatchback, notchback, station wagon, wagon, and sedan delivery body st ...

range included both a notchback coupe and a

fastback A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail. The kammback is not a fastback design with a roofline that tapers downward toward the car's rear before being cut of ...

coupe.

North America

One of the first cars marketed as a notchback is the 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special. In a major design change among U.S. automakers for the 1952 model year, a notchback version of the Nash Ambassador was introduced. This was in contrast to the previous

aerodynamic body shape that made the 1949 through 1950 Nash Ambassadors the "most streamlined form on the road." The new cars had a distinctive reverse slanting C-pillar and featured boxier styling that became a design trend. In 1971,

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

marketed the three-box sedan models of the

as a ''notchback'' to differentiate them from the

Vega models. For the 1973

model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated as MY) is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...

, the car's name was changed to "Vega Notchback". File:1939 Cadillac Series 60 Special rl.jpg, 1939 Cadillac Series 60 Special File:1961 AMC Rambler Ambassador 4-door pink rear.JPG, 1961 Rambler Ambassador sedan File:71 Vega sedan.jpg, 1971

notchback

English-speaking countries

While many car models have notchback characteristics, the category is largely unused outside North America, with their body style being described using other terms. For example, a three-box sedan is more generally known as a "saloon" in British English. "Notchback" has appeared in a few British English publications; however, it is not a term that is used in common parlance in Britain.

References

{{Automobile configuration Automotive styling features de:Fahrzeugheck#Stufenheck es:Carrocería#Notchback

North America

English-speaking countries

See also

References