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Full-size car—also known as large car—is a
vehicle size class Vehicle size classes are series of ratings assigned to different segments of automotive vehicles for the purposes of vehicle emissions control and fuel economy calculation. Various methods are used to classify vehicles; in North America, passen ...
which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than
mid-size car Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in t ...
s, it is the largest size class for cars. In Europe, it is known as
E-segment The E-segment is the 5th category of the European segments for passenger cars, synonymous with the term executive car. E-Segment is a niche in Europe (2-3% penetration in 2010s). As of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, E-segment sales account for 2.7 ...
or
F-segment The F-segment is the 6th category and largest of the European segments for passenger cars, and always belongs to "luxury cars". The equivalent categories are full-size luxury sedan (or "large luxury sedan") in the United States, luxury saloon ...
. After World War II, the majority of full-size cars have used the sedan and
station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
body styles, however in recent years most full-size cars have been sedans. The highest-selling full-size car nameplate is the
Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...
, sold as a full-size car from 1958 to 1986, 1994 to 1996, and from 2000 to 2020.


Current definition

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) ''Fuel Economy Regulations for 1977 and Later Model Year'' (dated July 1996) includes definitions for classes of automobiles. Based on the combined passenger and
cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...
volume, ''large cars'' (full-size cars) are defined as having an ''interior volume index'' of more than for sedan models, or for station wagons.


Engines

From the introduction of the Ford Flathead V8 in the 1930s until the 1980s, most North American full-size cars were powered by
V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
s. However,
V6 engine A V6 engine is a six-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, Deutz Gasmotoren Fabrik ...
s and
straight-six engine The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...
s have also been available on American full-size cars, especially until 1950s, and have become increasingly common since the downsizing of full-sized cars in the 1980s.


History


Early 20th century

The lineage of mass-produced full-size American cars begins with the 1908
Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
. In 1923, General Motors introduced the
Chevrolet Superior The Chevrolet Superior Series F was launched in 1923, manufactured by Chevrolet for four years with a different series per year. The 1923 model was known as the Series B, the 1924 model was the Series F, for 1925 it was known as the Series K and ...
, becoming the first vehicle to adopt a common chassis (the A-body) for several brands. In comparison to the cars of the 21st century, these vehicles are small in length and width. From the 1920s to the 1950s, most manufacturers produced model lines in a single size, growing in size with each model redesign. While length and
wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
varied between model lines, width was a relatively constant dimension, as the American federal government required the addition of clearance lights on a width past 80 inches.


1960s

In 1960, following the introduction of
compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However, p ...
s (such as the
Chevrolet Corvair The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, air- ...
,
Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * Fo ...
and
Plymouth Valiant The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give t ...
), the "full-size car" designation came into wider use. In the 1960s, the term was applied to the traditional car lines of lower-price brands, including Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth. As a relative term, full-size cars were marketed by the same brands offering compact cars, with entry-level cars for buyers seeking the roominess of a luxury car at a lower cost. Into the 1970s, the same vehicles could transport up to six occupants comfortably (or eight in a station wagon), at the expense of high fuel consumption.


1970s

The sales of full-size vehicles in the United States declined after the early 1970s fuel crisis. By that time, full-size cars had grown to wheelbases of and overall lengths of around . In response to the 1978 implementation of
CAFE A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
, American manufacturers implemented downsizing to improve fuel economy, with full-size vehicles as the first model lines to see major change. While General Motors and Ford would reduce the exterior footprint of their full-size lines to that of their intermediates, AMC withdrew its Ambassador and Matador full-size lines (to concentrate on production of mid-size vehicles). To save production costs, Chrysler repackaged its intermediates using the erstwhile full-size names, moving on to exiting the segment in 1981.


1980s

During the 1980s, to further comply with more stringent CAFE standards, manufacturers further reduced the exterior footprint of several model lines out of the full-size segment into the mid-size class. For 1982, Chrysler exited the full-size segment entirely, with the mid-size
Dodge Diplomat The Dodge Diplomat is an American mid-size car that was produced by Dodge from 1977 to 1989. At launch, it shared a common design with the Chrysler LeBaron and for much of its later production run was the counterpart of the Chrysler Fifth Aven ...
and
Plymouth Gran Fury The Plymouth Gran Fury is a full-sized automobile that was manufactured by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth from 1975 to 1989. The nameplate would be used on successive Downsize (automobile), downsizings, first in 1980, and again in 1982, through ...
serving as its largest sedan lines. Following the 1985 model year, General Motors replaced most of its full-size rear-wheel-drive model lines with smaller front-wheel drive sedans on the H and C platforms. Only station wagons, the
Chevrolet Caprice The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by Chevrolet in North America for the 1965 to 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular car in the U.S. in the 1960s ...
, and the
Cadillac Brougham The Cadillac Brougham was a line of full-size luxury cars manufactured by the Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors from the 1987 through 1992 model years and was marketed from 1977 to 1986 as the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. The opt ...
remained. Initially developed to replace the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, the 1986 Ford Taurus was produced alongside it as the Ford mid-size model line. After largely abandoning the full-size segment for compact cars and minivans, Chrysler gained reentry into the full-size segment in 1988 with the
Eagle Premier The Eagle Premier is a full-size executive car that was developed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) during the 1980s through its partnership with Renault. This model was manufactured in the then-brand-new Brampton Assembly in Canada. Chrysle ...
(also produced as the
Dodge Monaco The Dodge Monaco is an automobile that was marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation. Introduced as the flagship of the Dodge product line, the Monaco was introduced for 1965 to replace the Custom 880, later then later joining as a su ...
). Developed by AMC before its acquisition by Chrysler, the Premier was a version of the front-wheel drive
Renault 25 The Renault 25 is an executive car produced by the France, French automotive industry, automaker Renault from 1983 to 1992. The 25 was Renault's Flagship#Automotive, flagship, the most expensive, prestigious, and the largest vehicle in the co ...
adapted for North America. The
Saab 9000 The Saab 9000 is an automobile produced by the Swedish company Saab from 1984 to 1998. Representing the company's foray into the executive car scene, it was developed as a result of the successes of the turbocharged 99 and 900 models. The 9000 re ...
took a special position at the end of the 1980s, as for a long time it was the only imported car to be classified as a "large car" by the EPA.


1990s

From the 1980s to the 1990s, the market share of full-size cars began to decline; along with the increased use of mid-size cars, vans and SUVs grew in use as family vehicles. From 1960 to 1994, the market share of full-size cars declined from 65 percent to 8.3 percent. From 1990 to 1992, both GM and Ford redesigned its full-size car lines for the first time since the late 1970s. For 1992, Chrysler developed its first front-wheel drive full-size car line, replacing the Eagle Premier/Dodge Monaco with the Chrysler LH cars (Dodge Intrepid, Eagle Vision, Chrysler Concorde/New Yorker/LHS). The same year, the
Buick Roadmaster The Buick Roadmaster is an automobile that was built by Buick from 1936 until 1942, from 1946 until 1958, and then again from 1991 until 1996. Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest non-limousine wheelbase and s ...
was introduced, becoming the first rear-wheel drive GM model line adopted outside of Chevrolet and Cadillac since 1985; the Chevrolet Impala was returned for 1994. In 1995, the
Toyota Avalon The is a full-size sedan produced by Toyota. It is Toyota's largest front-wheel drive sedan and serves as its flagship vehicle in the United States, Canada, China and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from April 2000 until Jun ...
was introduced, becoming the first Japanese non-luxury full-size car with six seats to be sold in North America. The 1989
Lexus LS400 The is a full-size luxury sedan (F-segment in Europe) serving as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 engines and were predominantly rear-wheel-drive. In the four ...
luxury sedan was the first Japanese full-size car sold in North America. Following the 1996 model year, GM ended production of rear-wheel drive sedans.


2000s–present

By 2000, with the sole exception of the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Lincoln Town Car, full-size cars had abandoned rear-wheel drive and body-on-frame construction. Instead of model lineage, the EPA "large car" definition of over 120 interior cubic feet came into wide use. Initially developed for the midsize
Oldsmobile Aurora The Oldsmobile Aurora is a luxury sports sedan, manufactured and marketed by General Motors from 1994 until 2003 over two generations — sharing platforms with Buick Riviera and using the Cadillac-derived G platform. At the time of produc ...
, the GM
G-body The General Motors G platform (also called G-Body) automobile platform A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types o ...
chassis was expanded into the full-size segment for Cadillac in 2000 (for the Deville, later the DTS) and adapted by Buick (the Lucerne) in 2006. In 2005, Chrysler replaced the LH cars with the LX cars (returning to rear-wheel drive). The same year, Ford introduced the Five Hundred, its first front-wheel drive full-size car (the first American full-size car offered with all-wheel drive); in 2008, the Five Hundred was renamed the Taurus. After the 2011 model year, Ford ended production of the Panther platform, shifting to the
Ford Taurus The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from the 1986 to 2019 model years. Introduced in late 1985 for the 1986 model year, six generations were produced over 34 years; a brief hiat ...
and Lincoln MKS; in 2017, the latter was replaced by the
Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a personal vehicle for Edse ...
. In 2011, General Motors ended production of the G-body for several chassis (with Cadillac later shifting its largest sedans to rear-wheel drive). In 2012, the
Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is a Battery electric vehicle, battery-powered liftback car serving as the flagship model of Tesla, Inc. The Model S features a dual-motor, all-wheel drive layout, although earlier versions of the Model S featured a rear-moto ...
became the first fully electric full-size car sold in North America. For the 2013 model year, the Chevrolet Impala became the final American-market full-size sedan sold with a front bench seat. By the mid-2010s, full-size cars began seeing a steep decline in sales in North America, with SUVs replacing much of the full-size segment. At the end of the decade, demand for sedans (of all sizes) shifted towards vehicles of other layouts, reducing or shuttering production of sedans entirely. In 2018, Ford announced the sales of all Ford-branded passenger cars (except for the
Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...
) would end in North America by 2022. GM announced the closure of several manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada, with the production of the Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrosse ending in 2020. As of 2022, full-size cars from Asian manufacturers include the Lexus LS,
Genesis G80 The Genesis G80 ( ko, 제네시스 G80) is an executive sedan manufactured by South Korean luxury marque Genesis, which is owned by Hyundai Motor Company. The G80 model was previously introduced as the second-generation Hyundai Genesis model ...
/ G90,
Nissan Maxima The Nissan Maxima is a full-size car manufactured and marketed by Nissan and offered as Nissan's flagship sedan primarily in North America, the Middle East, and China — and currently in its eighth generation. Having debuted for model year 1 ...
, and
Toyota Avalon The is a full-size sedan produced by Toyota. It is Toyota's largest front-wheel drive sedan and serves as its flagship vehicle in the United States, Canada, China and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from April 2000 until Jun ...
. Another car from an Asian manufacturer, the eighth-generation Hyundai Sonata, is classified by the EPA as full-size despite being marketed as a mid-size model.


Best-selling models

In 2018, the three highest selling cars in the full-size sedan category in the United States were the Dodge Charger, Chevrolet Impala and Chrysler 300. File:N Conduit Av Whitelaw St td 04.jpg,
Dodge Charger The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over seven generations since 1966. The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version. The Charger has ...

(2015–present model shown) File:2014 Chevrolet Impala LTZ 3.6L with courtesy plates, front 6.1.19.jpg,
Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...

(2014–2020 model shown) File:2016 Chrysler 300 Limited AWD front 4.22.19.jpg,
Chrysler 300 The Chrysler 300 is a full-size luxury car manufactured and marketed by Stellantis North America (and its predecessor companies) as a four-door sedan and station wagon in its first generation (model years 2005–2010) and solely as a four-do ...

(2015–present model shown)


See also

*
Car classification Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation, description, and categorization of cars. The International Standard ISO 3833-1977 ''Road vehicles – Types ...
*
Vehicle size class Vehicle size classes are series of ratings assigned to different segments of automotive vehicles for the purposes of vehicle emissions control and fuel economy calculation. Various methods are used to classify vehicles; in North America, passen ...
*
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 ...
and
E-segment The E-segment is the 5th category of the European segments for passenger cars, synonymous with the term executive car. E-Segment is a niche in Europe (2-3% penetration in 2010s). As of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, E-segment sales account for 2.7 ...
- equivalent terms for a full-size car in the United Kingdom and European Union


References

{{Automobile configuration Car classifications