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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]
[edit] DesignA 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. [edit] United States
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] [edit] Examples
[edit] Other uses and other countriesNotchback 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] [edit] Examples
[edit] References
[edit] See also |
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