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Vehicle size classes are series of ratings assigned to different segments of automotive vehicles for the purposes of
vehicle emissions control Vehicle emissions control is the study of reducing the emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines. Types of emissions Emissions of many air pollutants have been shown to have variety of negative effects on public ...
and fuel economy calculation. Various methods are used to classify vehicles; in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
passenger vehicles 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 ...
are classified by total interior capacity while
truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
s are classified by
gross vehicle weight rating Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
(GVWR). Vehicle segments in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
use linear measurements to describe size. Asian vehicle classifications are a combination of dimensions and
engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...
.


North America


United States

Vehicle classifications of four government agencies are in use in the United States: the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
(EPA), the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rela ...
(NHTSA as part of their
NCAP A New Car Assessment Program (or Programme) is a government car safety program tasked with evaluating new automobile designs for performance against various safety threats. History The first NCAP was created in 1979, by the United States Nation ...
program),
Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
(FHWA), and the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
. The
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a U.S. nonprofit organization funded by auto insurance companies, established in 1959 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle traffic collisio ...
also has its own vehicle classification system that is used by most vehicle insurance companies in the U.S.


EPA

EPA size classes are defined in Federal Regulation, Title 40—Protection of Environment, Section 600.315-08 "Classes of comparable automobiles". This information is repeated in the Fuel Economy Guide.
Passenger 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 ...
classes are defined based on interior volume index (the combined passenger and cargo volume) and are as follows. Trucks classes are defined by
gross vehicle weight rating Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
(GVWR). The administrator classifies light trucks (nonpassenger automobiles) into the following classes: Small pickup trucks, standard pickup trucks, vans, minivans, and SUVs. Starting in the 2013 model year, SUVs are divided between small sport utility vehicles and standard sport utility vehicles. Pickup trucks and SUVs are separated by car line on the basis of gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). For a product line with more than one GVWR, the characteristic GVWR value for the product line is established by calculating the arithmetic average of all distinct GVWR values less than or equal to 8,500 pounds available for that product line. Special purpose vehicles. All automobiles with GVWR less than or equal to 8,500 pounds and all medium-duty passenger vehicles which possess special features and which the administrator determines are more appropriately classified separately from typical automobiles.


NHTSA

Unlike the EPA, which groups automobiles by interior volume, the NHTSA groups cars for NCAP testing by weight class.


FHWA

Developed in the 1980s, the
Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
13-category classification rule set is currently used for most federal reporting requirements and that serves as the basis for most state vehicle classification systems. '


U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau surveys the United States truck population. Large truck owners (NHTSA classes 4-13) are given a standard survey, and small truck (pickups, vans, minivans, and sport utility vehicles) owners (NHTSA class 3) are given a short survey. In the United States the government agencies consider all pickups, vans, minivans, and sport utility vehicles to be trucks for regulatory purposes, no matter what construction method is used, either unibody or body on frame. Coupe utilities are considered pickup trucks in the U.S., not cars. SUVs are always considered trucks, although there are some CUVs with low ground clearance which are considered station wagon or hatchback cars for regulatory purposes.


IIHS

The Insurance Institute has its own crash test program and groups cars by curb weight and shadow into six classes, micro, mini, small, midsize, large and very large.


Canada

Cars are divided into six classes based on interior volume, as shown in the table below. These classes are not defined in Canadian regulations, but by the ''Fuel Consumption Guide'' published by
Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depa ...
. An interior volume index is calculated from the combined passenger and trunk or cargo space. Pickup trucks, special purpose vehicles and vans are segmented in their own respective classes. As most Canadian cars share designs with American cars, Canada's classifications closely mirror those of the United States. Vehicle classes for trucks are listed in On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations (SOR/2003-2), published in ''Canada Gazette Part 2, Vol. 137 No. 1''. Medium-duty passenger vehicle is classified as a heavy-duty vehicle that is designed primarily for the transportation of up to 12 people. A
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
is classified as an on-road vehicle with a headlight, taillight and stoplight that has two or three wheels and a curb weight of 793 kg or less, but does not include a vehicle that has an engine displacement of less than 50 cc, or that, with an 80 kg (176 pound) driver: * Cannot start from a dead stop using only the engine * Cannot exceed a speed of 40 km/h on a level paved surface


Europe


EEC

Vehicle segments in Europe do not have formal characterization or regulations. Models segments tend to be based on comparison to well-known brand models. For example, a car such as the
Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...
might be described as being in the
Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...
size class, or vice versa. The
VW Polo The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. History ...
is smaller, so it belongs one segment below the Golf, while the bigger Passat is one segment above. The names of the segments were mentioned, but not defined, in 1999 in an EU document titled ''Case No COMP/M.1406 Hyundai / Kia Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 Merger Procedure''. * A: mini cars * B: small cars * C: medium cars * D: large cars * E: executive cars * F: luxury cars * J: sport utility cars (including off-road vehicles) * M: Multi purpose cars * S: Sports cars


EuroNCAP

EuroNCAP The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven (Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February ...
applies a standard safety test to all new cars, the results are listed in separate categories to allow prospective vehicle purchasers to compare models of a similar size and shape: * Small family cars (also for stand-alone saloon superminis, like the
Dacia Logan The Dacia Logan is a family of automobiles produced and marketed jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its Romanian subsidiary Dacia since mid-2004, and was the successor to the Dacia 1310 and Dacia Solenza. It has been produced as a ...
) *
Large family car The D-segment is the 4th category of the Euro Car Segment, European segments for passenger cars, and is described as "large cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "large family car" size class, and the present-day definition of the mid-size ...
s (includes
compact executive car A compact executive car, also known as a compact luxury car, is a premium car larger than a premium compact and smaller than an executive car. Compact executive car is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in the European car classification. A ...
s) *
Executive car Executive car is a British term for a large car which is equivalent to the European E-segment and American full-size classifications. Executive cars are larger than compact executive cars (and the non-luxury equivalent mid-size cars), and small ...
s (for expensive cars over 4.80 m long) *
Roadsters __NOTOC__ Roadster may refer to: Transportation * Roadster (automobile), an open, two-seat, often sporty car ** Roadster utility, an automobile with an open-topped roadster body and a rear cargo bed * Roadster (bicycle), a utilitarian bicycle, t ...
* Small off-roaders (similar to the North American
crossover SUV A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles ( ...
category) * Large off-roaders (similar to the North American
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 definiti ...
category) * Small MPVs (both
mini MPV Mini MPV— an abbreviation for mini multi-purpose vehicle— is a vehicle size class for the smallest size of minivans/MPVs. The mini MPV size class sits below the compact MPV size class and the vehicles are often built on the platforms of B-s ...
s and
compact MPV Compact MPV (an abbreviation for Compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle) is a vehicle size class for the middle size of MPVs. The Compact MPV size class sits between the mini MPV and large MPV (minivan) size classes. Compact MPVs remain predominantly a ...
s) * Large MPVs


Asia


China

Vehicle size categories for passenger vehicles for the China NCAP program as defined by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) may appear similar to the European system, but are closer to the Japanese in application. * ''Category A'' (A-segment) vehicles are two-box vehicles of between 4 and 4.5 meters in length, ''or''
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 ...
vehicles (i.e., sedans with trunks) with engines of less than 1600 cc. * ''Category B'' (B-segment) vehicles are longer than 4.5 m in length with engines of over 1600 cc. * ''Multi-purpose vehicles'', or MPVs * ''Sport utility vehicles'' or SUVs


India

The
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers The automotive industry in India is the fourth-largest in the world as per 2021 statistics. In 2022, India became fourth largest country in the world by valuation of automotive industry. As of 2020, India is the 5th largest automobile market in ...
(SIAM) divides Indian passenger vehicles into the segments A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B1, B2 and SUV. The classification is done solely based on the length of the vehicle. The details of the segments are below:


Japan

: ''Sections of this article are translated from
Japanese Wikipedia The is the Japanese-language edition of Wikipedia, a free, open-source online encyclopedia. Started on 11 May 2001, the edition attained the 200,000 article mark in April 2006 and the 500,000 article mark in June 2008. As of , it has over ar ...
''. Vehicle size classes in Japan are rather simple compared to other regions. The classifications were established under the Japanese Government's Road Vehicle Act of 1951.Japanese Postwar Reconstruction
/ref> There are just three different classes defined by regulations. The dimension regulations are enforced to exact measurements. These standards of classification are enforced on all vehicles within the jurisdiction of Japan, and no special consideration is made for the vehicles' origination of manufacture. The Japanese law regulates all vehicles that do not travel on railroads (traditional or
maglev Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation''), is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of electromagnets: one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage ...
), or are not powered by physically contacting
overhead power lines An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...
. The law regulates vehicles that are powered by an autonomous power source. Smaller cars are more popular in Japan due to the confined driving conditions and
speed limits Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
. * '' Keijidosha'' (light cars): Buyers of ''Kei'' cars enjoy a number of tax, registration and other benefits to encourage the purchase of these tiny vehicles (among road vehicles requiring a license only). Regulations have been updated a number of times over the years to allow larger, more powerful cars to be developed and maintain demand as buyers become more affluent, and to improve collision protection performance. The current regulations state that a kei car is a vehicle less than long, wide, high, with a maximum
engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...
of and maximum power of . Extra small
microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...
s are available with an engine size no larger than , identified with a light blue license plate and blue text. * '' Small size Passenger vehicles'', commonly called "5 number" vehicles in reference to their license-plate prefix. This class is defined as limited to vehicles less than long, wide, high and with
engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...
at or under . Vans, trucks and station wagons (considered commercial vehicles in Japan) in the compact size class receive a "4 number" license prefix. Before 1989, the annual tax rate of normal-size class was more than doubled of this class so that most Japanese cars were built within small-size class requirement. Now the annual tax rate only varies with engine displacement however useful small-size class cars are still popular in Japanese market, and Japanese manufacturers make regular improvements to compact sized products to maximize interior accommodation while remaining within the exterior boundaries. * '' Normal-size passenger vehicles'', commonly called "3 number" in reference to their license-plate prefix (trucks and buses over 2000 cc have license plates numbers beginning with ''1'' and ''2'' respectively), are those more than long, wide, high or with
engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...
larger than . This regulation also mandates that all passenger vehicles can not exceed length or width. Based on market conditions, vehicles such as the first generation
Honda Legend :''Sections of this article are translated from Japanese Wikipedia''. The Honda Legend is a series of V6-engined executive cars/mid-size luxury sedans produced by Honda since 1985 which currently serves as its flagship vehicle. It is larger tha ...
(shorter and narrower V6Gi and V6Zi variants with a 2.0 V6 engine), and the
Mitsubishi Starion The Mitsubishi Starion is a two-door, turbocharged four-cylinder rear-wheel drive four-seat hatchback sports car manufactured and marketed by Mitsubishi from 1982-1989 — with badge engineered variants marketed in North America as the Conque ...
were produced in both "compact size" (''just'' under 4.7 m long and 1.7 m wide) for the Japanese market, and longer or wider "passenger size" versions, primarily for export.
Motorcycles A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
also have classification definitions based on engine size: ; Class I moped : Engine size must be at or less than 50 cc, identified by blue text and white extra small license plate. ; Class II moped (B) : Engine size is between 50–90 cc, identified by blue text and yellow extra small license plate. ; Class II moped (MIG) : Engine size is between 90–125 cc, identified by blue text and pink extra small license plate (colour of plate can vary according to regional requirements) ; Motorcycle light : Engine size is between 125–250 cc, identified by green text and white small license plate. ; Motorcycle medium : Engine size is between 250–400 cc, identified by green outline and green text with white small license plate. ; Motorcycle large : Engine size is over 400 cc, identified by green outline and green text with white small license plate. All
vehicles A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wate ...
with an engine displacement over 250 cc are required to undergo an
inspection An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...
(called "Shaken" in Japan). Vehicle weight tax and mandatory vehicle insurance are usually paid at this time. This is separate from the
road tax Road tax, known by various names around the world, is a tax which has to be paid on, or included with, a motorised vehicle to use it on a public road. National implementations Australia All states and territories require an annual vehicle registra ...
paid yearly. The road tax varies from for kei cars up to for normal size cars with 4.6L engines.


See also

*
Car body style There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made in. Current styles ;Buggy (automobile), Buggy: Lightweight off-road vehicle with sparse bodywork. ;Converti ...
* Car classification * Directive 2001/116/EC *
Truck classification Truck classifications are typically based upon the maximum loaded weight of the truck, typically using the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and sometimes also the gross trailer weight rating (GTWR), and can vary among jurisdictions. United ...
*
Vehicle category A vehicle category classifies a land vehicle or trailer for regulatory purposes. UNECE categories United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Information from Consolidated Resolution on the Construction of Vehicles (R.E.3), Revision 6. Some ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Car classifications