notchback

The 3-box design illustrated on a full-size car. The notchback extends from the rear window so as to make a distinct angle with it. 1960s Ford Anglia notchback with a reverse-rake rear window.

Notchback is a form of car body style; in different parts of the world the precise definition varies. The term is common in the United States where it refers to the typical "three-box" design of sedans.^[1]

Design

A notchback, unlike a hatchback or fastback, is characterized by a near-vertical drop-off from a car's roof to its trunk. All notchbacks are "three-box" designs – three clearly separate areas for engine, passengers, and cargo. Seen from the side, the section forward of the windshield can be viewed as one box; the section with doors and windows is the second; and the third box is the trunk. Because the third box extends from below the back window, the design is called a notchback.^[2] Although notchback is usually a synonym for sedan, many coupés have notchback-type designs as well.

Passenger sedan aerodynamics can affect many areas of a vehicle's performance, such as fuel efficiency, stability, handling, and noise levels. Notchback vehicles exhibit a complicated near-wake flow, the structure of which is still not understood.^{[3] [4]}

As aerodynamic efficiency becomes an ever-greater focus in automobile design, the distinct angle between rear window and decklid that characterizes the traditional "notchback" is gradually diminishing^{[citation needed]}: most of today's four-door sedans feature a long, sweeping roof line that transitions through a shallow curve into a short, more horizontal decklid—i.e. the notchback is vestigial. However, drag-reducing (e.g. streamlined) production automobile design dates from the late 1930s.

United States

"Upright" notchback on 1980s notchback sedan: Ford LTD. Notchback coupe: Pontiac Fiero. '67 Barracuda Notchback

General Motors claims that the 1940 Cadillac Sixty Special introduced the "streamlined notchback" styling that influenced roof and rear deck styling of a broad range of vehicles until World War II^[5]

The notchback design was common across U.S. automakers and automobile types. A styling trend emerged during the 1960s where rooflines on many two-door models were made smoother with steeper slope of the rear window or more arc (a style that American Motors described as a "modified fastback") whereas, many four-door sedans featured a more upright, elegant roofline.^[6] General Motors' intermediate-size two-door models featured a roof lines with a traditional notchback, recessed ("tunneled") rear window between the sailing roof panels. The marketing term "formal roof" was coined for the steeply-angled version seen on certain American cars of the 1980s such as the two-door Mercury Cougar and the C- and G-body cars from General Motors, and the 1985-1991 N-body cars. The "formal roof" styling of the 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme hardtop coupe is said to have "promised affordable elegance". ^[7]

Examples

• AMC Ambassador sedans
• Chevrolet Citation coupes
• Chevrolet Vega two-door sedan
• Ford Mustang coupe^[8]
• Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
• Plymouth Barracuda coupe
• Pontiac Fiero
• Pontiac Trans Am first generation

Other uses and other countries

Notchback can also refer to liftback or hatchback vehicles, if there is a discontinuous line from roof to rear bumper.^{[citation needed]}

The term first became common in British English when used for the European Mark III Ford Escort and the slightly later Ford Sierra, both of which have hatchbacks, but also a residual trunk hump.^{[citation needed]} Officially (in Ford terminology) the shape of these hatchbacks was Aeroback.

In British English a "three-box" sedan^[9] is more generally known as a saloon.^[10] Although the term appears in a few British English publications (see refs), "notchback" is not a term that is used in common parlance in Britain.^[11][12]

Examples

• Lexus LS
• Mercedes-Benz W108, W109
• Nissan Cefiro
• Nissan Laurel
• Smart Roadster
• Volkswagen Notchback

European Ford Escort Mark III was a hatchback

European Ford Orion was the notchback version of the Escort

European Ford Sierra Mark I hatchback

European Ford Sierra Mark I notchback

References

See also

• Car body style