Car body style

Automobiles body styles are highly variable. Some body styles remain in production, while others become less common or obsolete. They may or may not correlate to a car's price, size or intended market classification. The same car model might be available in multiple body styles comprising a model range. Some distinctions, as with four-wheel drive vs. SUV models or minivan vs. MPV models, the distinction between body style and classification can be particularly narrow.
While body styles have historical and technical definitions, in common usage such definitions are broad and may be ambiguous. For example, one person may call a 4-passenger sport coupé a "sports car", while another may define a sports car strictly as a two-place vehicle.

Styles in current use4WD ("four-by-four" or "four-wheel drive")
A four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive power from the engine simultaneously. The terms are usually (but not exclusively) used in Europe to describe what is referred to in North America as a sport utility vehicle or SUV (see below).
Buggy
A Buggy is an automobile with wheels that project beyond the vehicle chassis.
Cabrio coach or Semi-convertible
A form of car roof, where a retractable textile cover amounts to a large sunroof. Fundamental to various older designs such as the Citroën 2CV; sometimes an option on modern cars.
Cabriolet
A term for a convertible (see below).

A BMW M3 convertible
Convertible
A body style with a flexible textile folding roof or rigid retracting roof — of highly variable design detail — to allow driving in open or enclosed modes.
Coupé
A 2-door, 2- or 4-seat car with a fixed roof. Its doors are often longer than those of an equivalent sedan and the rear passenger area smaller; the roof may also be low. In cases where the rear seats are very small and not intended for regular use it is called a 2+2 (pronounced "two plus two"). Originally, a coupé was required to have only one side window per side, but this consideration has not been used for many years.
Coupé utility (ute)
the coupé utility is a passenger-car derived vehicle with coupé passenger cabin lines and an integral cargo bed.
Crossover (or CUV)
A loose marketing term to describe a vehicle that blends features of a SUV with features of a car — especially forgoing the body on frame construction of the SUV in favor of the car's unibody or monocoque construction.
Estate car
British name for a station wagon.
Fastback
A design where the roof slopes at a smooth angle to the tail of the car, but the rear window does not open as a separate "door".
Hardtop
A style of car roof. Originally referred to a removable solid roof on a convertible; later, also a fixed-roof car whose doors have no fixed window frames, which is designed to resemble such a convertible.

Tata Nano Europa, a compact hatchback
Hatchback
Identified by a rear door including the back window that opens vertically to access a storage area not separated from the rest of the passenger compartment. May be 3 or 5-door and 2 to 5 seats, but generally in the US the tailgate isn't counted making it a 2-door and 4-door.
Hearse
A converted car (often a station wagon), light truck or minivan usually used to transport the dead. Often longer and heavier than the vehicle on which they are usually based. Can sometimes double up as an ambulance in some countries, such as the United States, especially in rural areas.
Leisure activity vehicle
A small van, generally related to a supermini, with a second or even a third seat row, and a large, tall boot.
Liftback
A style of coupé with a hatchback; used especially when the rear access door is very inclined, opening more upward that outward.

A Lincoln Town Car limousine
Limousine
By definition, a chauffeur-driven car with a (normally glass-windowed) division between the front seats and the rear. In German, the term simply means a sedan.
Minibus
Designed to carry fewer people than a full-size bus, generally up to 16 people in multiple rows of seats. Passenger access in normally via a sliding door on one side of the vehicle. One example of a van with a minibus version available is the Ford Transit.
Microvan
Term for a boxy wagon-type of car that is smaller than a conventional minivan; often without rear sliding door(s). Examples are Citroën Picasso, Renault Scénic, Toyota Yaris Verso or Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
Minivan
North American term for a boxy wagon-type of car usually containing three or four rows of seats, with a capacity of six or more passengers. Often with extra luggage space also. As opposed to the larger van, the minivan was developed primarily as a passenger vehicle, though is more van-like than a station wagon. In Britain, these are generally referred to as people carriers.
MPV
Multi-purpose vehicle, a large car or small bus designed to be used on and off-road and easily convertible to facilitate loading of goods from facilitating carrying people.
Notchback
A configuration where the third box of a three-box styling configuration is less pronounced — especially where the rear deck (third box) is short or where the rear window is upright.
People carrier or people mover
European name to describe what is usually referred to in North America as an Minivan.
Pickup truck a.k.a pickup
A small, medium, or large-sized truck, though smaller in every case than a Semi tractor truck. The passenger cabin is wholly separated from the cargo bed.
Pillarless
Usually a prefix to coupé, fastback, or hardtop; completely open at the sides when the windows are down, without a central pillar, e.g. the Sunbeam Rapier fastback coupé.
Ragtop
Originally an open car like a roadster, but with a soft top (cloth top) that can be raised or lowered. Unlike a convertible, it had no roll-up side windows. Now often used as slang for a convertible.
Retractable Hardtop
aka Coupé convertible or Coupé Cabriolet. A type of convertible forgoing a foldable textile roof in favor of a multi-segment rigid roof retracts into the lower bodywork.
Roadster
Originally a two-seat open car with minimal weather protection — without top or side glass — though possibly with optional hard or soft top and side curtains (i.e., without roll-up glass windows). In modern usage, the term means simply a two-seat sports car convertible, a variation of spyder.
Sedan
A car seating four or more with a fixed roof that is full-height up to the rear window. Known in British English as a saloon. Sedans can have 2 or 4-doors. This is the most common body style[citation needed]. In the U.S., this term has been used[who?] to denote a car with fixed window frames, as opposed to the hardtop style wherein the sash, if any, winds down with the glass.

Chevrolet HHR sedan delivery
Sedan delivery
North American term for a vehicle similar to a wagon but without side windows, similar to a panel truck but with two doors (one on each side), and one or two rear doors . Often shortened to delivery; used alone, "delivery" is presumed to be a sedan delivery. No longer manufactured.
Sport utility vehicle (SUV)
Derivative of a pickup truck or 4-wheel-drive vehicle, but with fully-enclosed passenger cabin interior and carlike levels of interior equipment.
Spyder (or Spider)
Similar to a roadster but originally with less weather protection. The term originated from a small two-seat horse cart with a folding sunshade made of four bows.[citation needed] With its black cloth top and exposed sides for air circulation, the top resembled a spider. Nowadays it simply means a convertible sports car.
Shooting brake
A two-door estate car; generally for vintage or extremely expensive vehicles. They were vehicles for the well-off shooter and hunter, giving space to carry shotguns and other equipment. Usually made to order by coachbuilders.[citation needed] The term is occasionally revived.
Station wagon
A car with a full-height body all the way to the rear; the load-carrying space created is accessed via a rear door or doors. Sometimes shortened to just wagon.
Surrey top
Similar to the Porsche Targa top, the surrey top was developed by Triumph in 1962 for the TR4.
T-top
A derivative of the Targa top, called a T-bar roof, this fixed-roof design has two removable panels and retains a central narrow roof section along the front to back axis of the car (e.g. Toyota MR2 Mark I.)
Targa top
A semi-convertible style used on some sports cars, featuring a fully removable hard top roof panel which leaves the A and B pillars in place on the car body. (e.g. Fiat X1/9). Strictly, the term originated from and is trademarked by Porsche for a derivate of its 911 series, the Porsche 911 Targa, itself named after the famous Targa Florio rally. A related styling motif is the Targa band, sometimes called a wrapover band which is a single piece of chrome or other trim extending over the roof of the vehicle and down the sides to the bottom of the windows. It was probably named because the original Porsche Targa had such a band behind its removable roof panel in the late 60s.
Ute
Australian/New Zealand English term for the Coupe Utility body style (see above). Sometimes used informally to refer to any utility vehicle, particularly light trucks such as a pickup truck. In American English, sport-ute is sometimes used[who?] to refer to an SUV (see above).

A Dodge Sprinter, one particular model of van.
Van
In North America "van" refers to a truck-based commercial vehicle of the wagon style, whether used for passenger or commercial use. Usually a van has no windows at the side rear (panel van), although for passenger use, side windows are included. In other parts of the world, 'van' denotes a passenger-based wagon with no rear side windows.
Wagon delivery
North American term (mainly U.S. and Canada). Similar to a sedan delivery, with four doors. Sometimes shortened to delivery; used alone, "delivery" is presumed to be a sedan delivery. No longer manufactured.
[edit] Non-English terms
Some non-English language terms are familiar from their use on imported vehicles in English-speaking nations even though the terms have not been adopted into English.
Barchetta
Italian term for a roadster. The name means, roughly, "small boat".
Berlina
Italian term for a sedan.
Berline
French term for a sedan.
Berlinetta
Italian term for a sport coupé.
Break
French term for a station wagon.
Carrinha
Portuguese term for a station wagon. Not used in Brazilian Portuguese.
Espada
Portuguese nickname for a limousine (the same word for Sword - long piece of metal). Not used in Brazilian Portuguese.
Furgoneta
Portuguese term for a van. Not used in Brazilian Portuguese.
Furgão
Portuguese alternative term (less used) for a van. Used in Brazilian Portuguese.
Giardinetta
Italian term for a station wagon.
Jeep
Russian, Bulgarian, German, Portuguese, Hebrew and Greek term for a sport utility vehicle. Originally from the English-language jeep, of which the name's origins can be researched on the Jeep page.
Kombi
is a German abbreviation of "Kombinationswagen" (Combination Car) and it is German name for station wagon. Since Germany is a major producer of cars for many European countries, the term Kombi in this meaning is also used in Swedish, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian. In Afrikaans, Kombi is also used to refer to a Volkswagen Microbus
Minibus
Danish term for Minivan.
Stationcar
Danish term for station wagon.
Turismo
Spanish term for a sedan. Literally means tourism, used mostly in Latin American countries.