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

Etymology and pronunciation

() is based on the

past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

of the French verb ("to cut") and thus indicates a car which has been "cut" or made shorter than standard. It was first applied to

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

-drawn

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

s for two passengers without rear-facing seats. These or ("clipped carriages") were eventually clipped to .. There are two common pronunciations in English: * () – the

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

version of the French pronunciation of ''coupé''. * () – as a

spelling pronunciation A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronounc ...

when the word is written without an accent. This is the usual pronunciation and spelling in the United States, with the pronunciation entering American vernacular no later than 1936 and featuring in the Beach Boys' hit 1963 song "

Little Deuce Coupe ''Little Deuce Coupe'' is the fourth album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released October 7, 1963 on Capitol Records. It reached number 4 in the US during a chart stay of 46 weeks, and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA ...

Definition

A coupe is a fixed-roof car with a sloping rear roofline and one or two rows of seats. However, there is some debate surrounding whether a coupe must have two doors for passenger egress or whether cars with four doors can also be considered coupes. This debate has arisen since the early 2000s, when four-door cars such as the

Mazda RX-8 The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2002 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show. It is the successor to the RX-7 and, like its predecessors in ...

and

Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class The Mercedes-Benz CLS (initially called the CLS-Class) is a series of executive cars produced by Mercedes-Benz since 2004. The original model was a four-door fastback sedan based on the E-Class platform, marketed as a four door coupé. An esta ...

have been marketed as "four-door coupes" or "quad coupes", although the

Rover P5 The Rover P5 series are large saloon and coupé automobiles that were produced by Rover from 1958 until 1973. The models were marketed under the names Rover 3 Litre, Rover 3.5 Litre and Rover 3½ Litre. The P5 was a larger car than the P4 w ...

was a much earlier example, with a variant introduced in 1962 having a lower, sleeker roofline marketed as the Rover P5 Coupé. In the 1940s and 1950s, coupes were distinguished from

sedans A sedan 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 the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 19 ...

by their shorter roof area and sportier profile. Similarly, in more recent times, when a model is sold in both coupe and sedan body styles, generally the coupe is sportier and more compact. The 1977 version of

International Standard international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International Or ...

ISO3833—''Road vehicles - Types - Terms and definitions''—defines a coupe as having two doors (along with a fixed roof, usually with limited rear volume, at least two seats in at least one row and at least two side windows). On the other hand, the United States

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

publication J1100 does not specify the number of doors, instead defining a coupe as having a rear interior volume of less than . The definition of coupe started to blur when manufacturers began to produce cars with a 2+2 body style (which have a sleek, sloping roofline, two doors, and two functional seats up front, plus two small seats in the back). Some manufacturers also blur the definition of a coupe by applying this description to models featuring a

hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

or a rear cargo area access door that opens upwards. Most often also featuring a fold-down back seat, the hatchback or liftback layout of these cars improves their practicality and cargo room.

Horse-drawn carriages

The coupe body style originated from the berline horse-drawn carriage. The coupe version of the berline was introduced in the 18th century as a shortened ("cut") version with no rear-facing seat. Normally, a coupe had a fixed glass window in the front of the passenger compartment. The coupe was considered an ideal vehicle for women to use to go shopping or to make social visits.

History

The early coupe automobile's passenger compartment followed in general conception the design of horse-drawn coupes, with the driver in the open at the front and an enclosure behind him for two passengers on one

bench seat A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a bench ...

. The French variant for this word thus denoted a car with a small passenger compartment. By the 1910s, the term had evolved to denote a two-door car with the driver and up to two passengers in an enclosure with a single bench seat. The

coupé de ville Coupé de ville — also known as town car or sedanca de ville — is a car body style produced from 1908 to 1939 with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. Although the different terms may ha ...

, or coupe chauffeur, was an exception, retaining the open driver's section at front. In 1916, the

Society of Automobile Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

suggested nomenclature for car bodies that included the following: During the 20th century, the term coupe was applied to various close-coupled cars (where the rear seat that is located further forward than usual and the front seat further back than usual). Since the 1960s the term ''coupe'' has generally referred to a two-door car with a fixed roof. Since 2005, several models with four doors have been marketed as "four-door coupes", however reactions are mixed about whether these models are actually sedans instead of coupes. According to

Edmunds Edmunds may refer to: People *Edmunds (given name) *Edmunds (surname) Places * Edmunds Center, an arena in Deland, Florida * Edmunds County, South Dakota Companies * Edmunds (company), provider of automotive information See also * Edmonds (dis ...

, an American automotive guide, "the four-door coupe category doesn't really exist."

Variations

''Berlinetta''

A ''berlinetta'' is a lightweight sporty two-door car, typically with two-seats but also including

2+2 Two Two (투투) was a Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern ...

cars.

Club coupe

A club coupe is a two-door car with a larger rear-seat passenger area, compared with the smaller rear-seat area in a 2+2 body style.

Hardtop coupe

hardtop A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, which for modern cars is typically constructed from metal. A hardtop roof can be either fixed (i.e. not removable), Convertible#Detachable hardtop, detachable for separate storing or retractable ha ...

coupe is a two-door car that lacks a structural pillar ("B" pillar) between the front and rear side windows. When these windows are lowered, the effect is like that of a convertible coupe with the windows down. The hardtop body style was popular in the United States from the early 1950s until the 1970s. It was also available in European and Japanese markets. Safety regulations for roof structures to protect passengers in a rollover were proposed, limiting development of new models. The hardtop body style went out of style with consumers while the automakers focused on cost reduction and increasing efficiencies.

''Combi'' coupé

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

used the term "''combi'' coupé" for a car body similar to the

liftback A liftback is a variation of hatchback with a sloping roofline between 45 and 5 degrees. Traditional hatchback designs usually have a 90 to 46 degree slope on the tailgate or rear door. As such the liftback is essentially a hatchback with a more ...

Business coupe

A two-door car with no rear seat or with a removable rear seat intended for traveling salespeople and other vendors carrying their wares with them. American manufacturers developed this style of a coupe in the late 1930s.

Four-door coupe / quad coupe

A four-door

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 a type of fastback style. Some models, such as the Ford Mustang, have been specifically marketed as ...

car with a coupe-like roofline at the rear. The low-roof design reduces back-seat passenger access and headroom. The designation was first used for the low-roof model of the 1962–1973

, followed by the 1992–1996 Nissan Leopard / Infiniti J30. Recent examples include the 2005

Mercedes-Benz CLS The Mercedes-Benz CLS (initially called the CLS-Class) is a series of executive cars produced by Mercedes-Benz since 2004. The original model was a four-door fastback sedan based on the E-Class platform, marketed as a four door coupé. An esta ...

, 2010

Audi A7 The Audi A7 is an executive luxury four-door coupé produced by Audi since 2010. A five-door liftback (also available as a three-box, four-door saloon in China since 2021), it features a sloping roofline with a steeply raked rear window and inte ...

and 2012 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. Similarly, several cars with one or two small rear doors for rear seat passenger egress and no B-pillar have been marketed as "

quad coupe Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which i ...

s". For example, the 2003

Saturn Ion The Saturn Ion is a compact car sold by Saturn between the 2003 and 2007 model years. It used the GM Delta platform. The Ion replaced the Saturn S-Series in 2002, and was replaced by the new Saturn Astra in 2008. Production of the Ion ended on Ma ...

and 2003

Three-door coupe

Particularly popular in Europe, many cars are designed with coupe styling, but a three-door hatchback/liftback layout to improve practicality, including cars such as the

Jaguar E-Type The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars Ltd between 1961 and 1974. Its combination of beauty, high performance, and competitive pricing established the m ...

Datsun 240Z The Nissan S30 (sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z) is the first generation of Z GT 3-door two-seat coupés, produced by Nissan Motors, Ltd. of Japan from 1969 until ...

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name "supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were pr ...

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...

Alfa Romeo Brera The Alfa Romeo Brera and the Alfa Romeo Spider (Type 939) are mid-size sports cars using the GM/Fiat Premium platform, manufactured by Pininfarina and marketed by Alfa Romeo as a 2+2 coupé and roadster respectively. 12,488 units of the Spide ...

, Ford/Mercury Cougar and

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2017. Production ended without a ...

Opera coupe

A two-door designed for driving to the opera with easy access to the rear seats. Features sometimes included a folding front seat next to the driver or a compartment to store

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

s. Often they would have solid rear-quarter panels, with small, circular windows, to enable the occupants to see out without being seen. These

opera window An opera window is a small fixed window usually behind the rear side window of an automobile. They are typically mounted in the C-pillar of some cars. The design feature was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s and adopted by domestic U.S. m ...

s were revived on many U.S. automobiles during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Three-window coupe

The three-window coupe (commonly just "three-window") is a style of automobile characterized by two side windows and a backlight (rear window). The front windscreens are not counted. The three-window coupe has a distinct difference from the five-window coupe, which has an additional window on each side behind the front doors. These two-door cars typically have small-sized bodies with only a front seat and an occasional small rear seat. The style was popular from the 1920s until the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. While many manufacturers produced three-window coupes, the 1932 Ford coupe is often considered the classic hot rod.

Coupe SUV

Some

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

s or

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

s with sloping rear rooflines are marketed as "coupe crossover SUVs" or "coupe SUVs", even though they have four side doors for passenger egress to the seats and rear hatches for cargo area access.

Positioning in model range

In the United States, some coupes are "simply line-extenders two-door variants of family sedans", while others have significant differences to their four-door counterparts. The

AMC Matador The AMC Matador is a car model line that was manufactured and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) across two generations, 1971–1973 (mid-size) and 1974–1978 (full-size), in two-door hardtop (first generation) and coupe (second gen ...

coupe (1974–1978) has a shorter wheelbase with a distinct aerodynamic design and fastback styling, sharing almost nothing with the conventional

three-box The configuration of a car body is typically determined by the layout of the engine, passenger and luggage compartments, which can be shared or separately articulated. A key design feature is the car's roof-supporting pillars, designated from fron ...

design and more "conservative" four-door versions. Similarly, the

Chrysler Sebring The Chrysler Sebring ( ) is a line of mid-size automobiles that was sold from 1995 through 2010 by Chrysler. Three generations of convertibles, two generations of sedans, and two generations of coupes were produced. Although the coupe shared th ...

and

Dodge Stratus The Dodge Stratus is a mid-size car that was introduced by Dodge in December 1994 and was based on the 4-door sedan Chrysler JA platform. The Stratus, Plymouth Breeze, and Chrysler Cirrus were all on ''Car and Driver'' magazine's Ten Best list ...

coupes and sedans (late-1990 through 2000s), have little in common except their names. The coupes were engineered by Mitsubishi and built in Illinois, while the sedans were developed by Chrysler and built in Michigan. Some coupes may share platforms with contemporary sedans. Coupes may also exist as model lines in their own right, either closely related to other models, but named differently – such as the

Alfa Romeo GT The Alfa Romeo GT (Type 937) is a coupe automobile that was produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo between 2003 and 2010. The GT was introduced in March 2003 at the Geneva Motor Show.Fiat Chrysler Automobiles EMEA PressNEW ALFA GT COUPÉ, W ...

Infiniti Q60 The Infiniti Q60 is a 2-door sport luxury coupe manufactured by Japanese automaker Infiniti. It is the successor to the Infiniti G coupe and convertible. The Q60 nameplate was first used as a rebranding of Infiniti G coupes. A new version was intro ...

– or have little engineering in common with other vehicles from the manufacturer – such as the

Toyota GT86 The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 sports cars jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, manufactured at Subaru's Gunma assembly plant. The 2+2 fastback coupé has a natural aspiration, naturally-aspirated boxer engin ...

Gallery

File:2017 Ford Mustang (FM) coupe (2017-07-15) 02.jpg, 2017

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

File:Buick 37 46S Opera Coupe 1937.jpg, 1937 Buick 37 46S - an opera coupe File:1932 Ford Three Window Coupe hot rod (5409924810).jpg, 1932 Ford Model 18 - a three-window coupe File:1946 Ford V8 Club Coupe (15359652557).jpg, A 1946 Ford V8 - a club coupe. File:Saab 900i 16v.jpg, 1978–1987

Saab 900 The Saab 900 is a mid-sized automobile which was produced by Saab from 1978 until 1998 in two generations; the first from 1978 to 1993, and the second from 1994 to 1998. The first-generation car was based on the Saab 99 chassis, though with a ...

marketed as a combi coupe File:RX-8 2010Y-MODEL-SIDE.jpg, 2010

- marketed as a four-door coupe File:Ferrari-250-GT-Berlinetta-1.jpg, 1961

Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta The Ferrari 250 is a series of sports cars and grand tourers built by Ferrari from 1952 to 1964. The company's most successful early line, the 250 series includes many variants designed for road use or sports car racing. 250 series cars are cha ...

- a Berlinetta coupe File:1948 Bentley coupé de ville - fvl.jpg, 1948

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

coupe de ville

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coupe Car body styles Carriages