A sports sedan (also known as a super saloon or sports saloon in

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

) is a subjective term for a sedan car that is designed to have sporting performance or handling characteristics.

History

The term was initially introduced in the 1930s. Early examples include the Sports Saloon versions of the

Rover 14 The Rover Fourteen was a medium-sized family car and variants produced by the British Rover car company between 1924 and 1948. Civilian automobile production was interrupted in 1940 because of the war, but when the war ended in 1945, the Rover 14 ...

and Rover 16. From the 1960s, the term ''sports sedan'' was increasingly applied by manufacturers to special versions of their vehicles that allowed them to enter production cars in motor races. These cars contained modifications not usually permitted by the regulations, which therefore required cars to be homologated typically by selling them in minimum numbers to the public. Some of the earlier examples were the Alfa Romeo 1900, Renault R8 Gordini, Triumph Dolomite,

Lotus Cortina Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford Motor Company, Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, w ...

, and BMW 1800 TI. By the 1980s, the sports sedan was described by ''Popular Mechanics'' magazine as being "well-made five-passenger cars that are modest in size, appearance, and appetite for fuel, yet can outperform all but the fastest two-seater cars". Invented in Europe, the U.S. market share of these types of models had grown from 50,000 units per year in 1975, to 500,000 in 1985.

Characteristics

In the twentieth century, most sports sedans used

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...

s and

rear-wheel drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-whee ...

configurations. However, with other transmission types and drivetrain layouts have become more widespread for sedans in general, and increasing adoption of

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

and

all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. Types The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflects one axle with ...

in motorsports such as

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

and

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

, many sports sedans such as Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution have also used these. While many sports sedans use notchback designs as their default body configurations,

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 ...

and

liftback A liftback is a variation of a hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline, roughly between 45 and 10 degrees, whereas traditional or archetypal hatchback designs tend to use a 45 degree to near vertical slope on the top-hinged ...

variations are not unheard of, with some smaller hot hatches with three-box or liftback designs crossing into this territory. Some manufacturers share similar engines and interior features as sports sedans in coupe and convertible body styles; therefore, some rankings of this market segment include those versions.

North American usage

The term "sport sedan" was initially used in North America for luxury import sedans (i.e.,

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

, and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

). These cars prioritized handling more than the domestic luxury sedans (i.e.,

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

and Lincoln), which were more focused on comfort. However, since the 2000s, the domestic brands have begun producing sports sedan models such as the

Cadillac CTS The Cadillac CTS is a luxury car, manufactured and marketed by General Motors from 2003 until 2019 across three generations. Initially available as a 4-door sedan using the GM Sigma platform, GM offered the second generation CTS in 4-door ...

and Lincoln LS. Another term sometimes used to describe sports sedans in the US is

muscle car A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance. In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its lux ...

; however, more typically, the latter term refers to V8-powered two-door

coupe 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 made by American manufacturers.

Examples

* Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio (2017) * Audi RS 4 *

BMW M5 The BMW M5 is a super high-performance variant of the BMW 5 Series marketed under the BMW M sub-brand. It is considered an iconic vehicle in the sports saloon category. The M5 has always been produced in the saloon (sedan, US English) body s ...

* Cadillac CTS-V * Chrysler 300M * Dodge Charger SRT-8 * Ford Taurus SHO *

Jaguar XJ The Jaguar XJ is a series of mid-size/full-size luxury cars produced by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars (becoming Jaguar Land Rover in 2013) from 1968 to 2019. It was produced across four basic platform generations (debuting in 1968 ...

* Kia Stinger * Maserati Quattroporte * Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG * MG ZS 180 * HSV Clubsport

References

External links

{{CarConfig nav Car classifications