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
A Kammback—also known as a Kamm tail or K-tail—is an automotive styling feature wherein the rear of the car slopes downwards before being abruptly cut off with a vertical or near-vertical surface. A Kammback improves aerodynamic drag, thus ...
is a type of fastback style.
Some models, such as the
Ford Mustang, have been specifically marketed as fastbacks, often to differentiate them from other body styles (e.g. coupe models) in the same
model range. The ''4-door coupe'' is a common branding term used today to describe fastback sedans.
Definition
A fastback is often defined as having a single slope from the roof to the rear of the vehicle.
The term "fastback" is not interchangeable with "
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 ...
"; the former describes the shape of the car, and the latter refers to a roof-hinged
tailgate that lifts more upwards than rearwards.
More specifically, ''
Road & Track'' have defined the fastback as
A closed body style, usually a coupe but sometimes a sedan, with a roof sloped gradually in an unbroken line from the windshield to the rear edge of the car. A fastback naturally lends itself to a hatchback configuration and many have it, but not all hatchbacks are fastbacks and vice versa.
In the case of the
Ford Mustang, the term "fastback" is used to differentiate against the
coupé notchback body style, which has a steeper rear window followed by a horizontal trunk lid.
History
Automobile designers in the 1930s began using elements of aircraft aerodynamics to
streamline
Streamline may refer to:
Business
* Streamline Air, American regional airline
* Adobe Streamline, a discontinued line tracing program made by Adobe Systems
* Streamline Cars, the company responsible for making the Burney car
Engineering
* ...
the boxy-looking vehicles of their day. Such designs, that were ahead of their time when exhibited during the early 1930s, included a
droplet
A drop or droplet is a small column of liquid, bounded completely or almost completely by free surfaces. A drop may form when liquid accumulates at the lower end of a tube or other surface boundary, producing a hanging drop called a pendant ...
-like streamlining of the car's rear; a configuration similar to what would become known as the "fastback" 25 years later. Merriam-Webster first recognized the term "fastback" in 1954,
many years before the popularization of the term "hatchback", which entered the dictionary in 1970. Opinions vary as to whether the terms are mutually exclusive.
Early examples of fastback cars include the 1929
Auburn Cabin Speedster, 1933
Cadillac V-16
The Cadillac V-16 (also known as the Cadillac Sixteen) was Cadillac's top-of-the-line model from its January 1930 launch until 1940. The V16 powered car was a first in the United States, both extremely expensive and exclusive, with every chassis ...
Aerodynamic Coupe, 1935
Stout Scarab,
1933
Packard 1106 Twelve Aero Sport Coupe,
Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic,
Tatra 87
The Tatra 87 (T87) is a car built by Czechoslovak manufacturer Tatra. It was powered by a rear-mounted 2.9-litre air-cooled 90-degree overhead cam V8 engine that produced 85 horsepower and could drive the car at nearly . It is ranked among the f ...
,
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Salzburg, Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Porsche, Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first ...
,
Saab 92/96,
Standard Vanguard
The Standard Vanguard is a car which was produced by the Standard Motor Company in Coventry, England, from 1947 until 1963.
The car was announced in July 1947, was completely new, with no resemblance to the previous models, and, designed in 19 ...
,
GAZ-M20 Pobeda
The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (russian: ГАЗ-М20 Победа; ''победа'' means ''victory'') was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to the Polish Passenger Automobile Factory and produ ...
, and
Bentley Continental R-Type.
North America and Europe
In North America, the numerous marketing terms for the fastback body-style included "aerosedan", "club coupe", "sedanette" and "torpedo back". Cars included
Cadillac's
Series 61 and
62 Club Coupes, as well as various other models from
General Motors,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, and
Chrysler. By the early 1940s until 1950, nearly every domestic manufacturer offered at least one fastback body style within their model lineups. In the mid-1960s, the style was revived on many GM and Ford products until the mid-1970s. In Europe, there was a sloping rear on streamlined cars as early as 1945, from which, among other things, the shapes of the
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
and
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Salzburg, Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Porsche, Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first ...
are derived.
Australia
In Australia, fastbacks (known as "slopers") were introduced in 1935, first designed by General Motors'
Holden as one of the available bodies on
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...
,
Chevrolet, and
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
chassis. The sloper design was added by Richards Body Builders in Australia to
Dodge and
Plymouth models in 1937; it was subsequently adopted by Ford Australia in 1939 and 1940, as well as a sloper style made on Nash chassis. According to automotive historian
G.N. Georgano, "the Slopers were advanced cars for their day".
Japan
In Japan, the
Toyota AA first adopted the fastback style in 1936. It was strongly influenced by the 1933
DeSoto Airflow. The 1965
Mitsubishi Colt 800
The Mitsubishi Colt 800 is the first of a series of passenger cars with a fastback/hatchback design produced by Mitsubishi Motors from November 1965. It was introduced as a two-door fastback sedan, the first such design in the Japanese market. The ...
was the first
post-war Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
fastback, and the 1958
Subaru 360
The Subaru 360 is a rear-engined, two-door city car manufactured and marketed from 1958 to 1971 by Subaru. As the company's first automobile, production reached 392,000 over its 12-year model run.
Noted for its small overall size, 1,000 lb ...
was the first
kei
Kei may refer to:
People
* Kei (given name)
* Kei, Cantonese for Ji (surname), Ji(姫)
* Kei, Cantonese for Qi (surname), Qi(奇, 祁, 亓)
* Shō Kei (1700–1752), king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom
* Kei (singer) (born 1995), stage name of South Kor ...
fastback. The
Prince Skyline 1900 Sprint was developed by
Prince Motor Company
The Prince Motor Company ( Japanese: ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g. ...
in 1963, but was never marketed.
Afterwards, all Japanese automakers adopted the fastback style, with the 1967
Honda N360
The Honda N360 is a small front-engine, front-wheel drive, two-door, four-passenger car manufactured and marketed by Honda from March 1967 through 1970 in Japan's highly regulated kei class — as both a two-door sedan and three-door wagon.
...
, 1968
Nissan Sunny
The is an automobile built by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1966 to 2006. In the early 1980s, the brand changed from Datsun to Nissan in line with other models by the company. Although production of the Sunny in Japan ended in 2006, the na ...
Coupe, 1968
Mazda Familia
The , also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323, Mazda Protegé and Mazda Allegro, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004.
It was marketed as the ' ...
Rotary Coupe, 1970
Suzuki Fronte "Sting Ray Look", and 1971
Daihatsu Fellow Max. From the late 1960s to the 1970s, American
coke bottle styling
Coke bottle styling is an automotive body design with a narrow center surrounded by flaring fenders which bears a general resemblance to a Coca-Cola classic glass contour bottle design. It was introduced by industrial designer Raymond Loewy on ...
became popular in Japan, as seen on
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
's 1973
Celica "Liftback".
"4-door coupe"
A decisive change of course took place in 2004, when the first generation of the
Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class was launched. It was called a ''4-door coupé'', a purely marketing term describing its fastback
sedan arrangement, with fastback coupé-profiled bodywork and two doors on each side. The CLS is considered the forerunner of this market segment, but it only reinterpreted the concept—such a layout (although not a true fastback) was briefly used on the 1992-1997
Infiniti J30/Nissan Leopard J Férié.
It was followed by other competing models, such as the
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 the
BMW 6 Series
The BMW 6 Series is a range of grand tourers produced by BMW since 1976. It is the successor to the E9 Coupé and is currently in its fourth generation.
The first generation BMW E24 6 Series was available solely as a two-door coupé and produce ...
Gran Coupé, but also models of different segments, such as the
Audi A5
The Audi A5 is a series of compact executive coupe cars produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi since June 2007. The A5 range additionally comprises the coupe, cabriolet, and "Sportback" (a five-door liftback with a fastback roofline) ...
Sportback,
BMW 4 Series
The BMW 4 Series is a range of compact executive cars manufactured by BMW since 2013. The 4 Series was created when BMW spun off the 2-door models (coupé and convertible) of the 3 Series into a separate series. The 4 Series is currently in its ...
Gran Coupé,
Volkswagen CC
The Volkswagen CC, originally marketed as the Volkswagen Passat CC in its first generation, is a variant of the Volkswagen Passat that trades headroom and cargo space for a coupé-like profile and sweeping roofline. The CC debuted in January 200 ...
,
Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
The Mercedes-Benz CLA class is a series of luxury compact executive cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz since 2013. The first generation was a four-door sedan based on the platform of the W176 A-Class and W246 B-Class compact cars, marketed as ...
,
Aston Martin Rapide
The Aston Martin Rapide is a 4-door, 4-seater, high-performance sports saloon, which the British luxury marque Aston Martin introduced in early 2010. It was first presented as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 20 ...
, and
Porsche Panamera
The Porsche Panamera is a mid/full-sized luxury car (E-segment/F-segment in Europe) manufactured and marketed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche across two generations using a front-engine, rear or all-wheel drive configuration.
Pors ...
.
Aerodynamic advantages
Fastbacks provide an advantage in developing
aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
vehicles with a low
drag coefficient
In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag e ...
. For example, although lacking a
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
,
Hudson designed its post-World War II cars to look aerodynamic, and "tests conducted by Nash later found that the Hudson had almost 20% less drag than contemporary
notchback sedans".
See also
*
List of fastback automobiles
List of fastback automobiles includes examples of a car body style whose roofline ''slopes continuously down at the back''. It is a ''form of back for an automobile body consisting of a single convex curve from the top to the rear bumper''. T ...
*
Coupe
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 parti ...
*
Sedan
*
Hatchback
*
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 ...
*
Kammback
A Kammback—also known as a Kamm tail or K-tail—is an automotive styling feature wherein the rear of the car slopes downwards before being abruptly cut off with a vertical or near-vertical surface. A Kammback improves aerodynamic drag, thus ...
References
External links
{{Automobile configuration
Car body styles
Automotive styling features
de:Fahrzeugheck#Schrägheck