The greenhouse (or glasshouse) of a

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

comprises the

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

, rear and side windows, the

pillars A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

separating them (designated A-pillar, B-pillar and so on, starting from the car's front), and the car's roof.Gustavson, Mark (1999), ''Custom Car'',

Kalmbach Publishing Company Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

, , p. 7 The shape and position of the greenhouse have a defining influence on the looks of the car and are a prime factor in differentiating between body styles such as saloon/ sedan,

coupé 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 ...

, estate/wagon and

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. ...

. A greenhouse with noticeably inward side slopes is also referred to as the

tumblehome Tumblehome is a term describing a hull which grows narrower above the waterline than its beam. The opposite of tumblehome is flare. A small amount of tumblehome is normal in many naval architecture designs in order to allow any small projection ...

. In the 2000s and 2010s, greenhouses have become narrower because of design trends and crash regulations. Some manufacturers incorporate trademark design features in the greenhouse that are present across several model series, one example being the BMW

Hofmeister kink The Hofmeister kink (German: Hofmeister-Knick) is an automotive design feature consisting of a rearward/forward angle near the base of the rearmost pillar. It is named for Wilhelm Hofmeister, who was BMW's design chief from 1955 to 1970, though ...

References

Further reading