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Types of Cars

The document discusses different types of cars. It describes 19 main types including sedans, sports cars, station wagons, coupes, hatchbacks, convertibles, utility vehicles, minivans, pickup trucks, off-road vehicles, and luxury vehicles. For each type, it provides a brief definition and some examples. The types are grouped based on their body style, size, seating configuration, and intended uses such as passenger transport, cargo space, or off-road driving.

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0% found this document useful (1 vote)
751 views12 pages

Types of Cars

The document discusses different types of cars. It describes 19 main types including sedans, sports cars, station wagons, coupes, hatchbacks, convertibles, utility vehicles, minivans, pickup trucks, off-road vehicles, and luxury vehicles. For each type, it provides a brief definition and some examples. The types are grouped based on their body style, size, seating configuration, and intended uses such as passenger transport, cargo space, or off-road driving.

Uploaded by

jessa poquiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Overview of Car Types
  • Sedan and Sports Car
  • Station Wagon and Coupe
  • Hatchback and Convertible
  • Utility and Minivan
  • Pickup and Off-road Vehicles
  • Luxury and Hybrid Vehicles
  • Limousine and Self-driving Car
  • Pony and Electric Cars
  • Crossover and Truck
  • Microcar
  • Conclusion

Types of Cars

Cars
The "car" means all types of passenger vehicles. In today's car market, there are so many options
available according to many different models, styles, shapes, and sizes. But it can be difficult to
understand all this.

I know that you have questions like what are the different types of cars available to see? To help you
understand and keeping it easy, we have described all vehicle options into main categories. This will
help you to choose the right type of car so that you can make an informed decision.

The first thing you could notice when you look at the car is its shape, body style, its size, seater, doors,
and more. In this article, we are looking at the vehicles according to the body style.

Also, read the different types of car engine parts. Furthermore, we also wrote about what are the types
of car headlights available. Moreover, find the perfect type of tire for cars here. Let's get started with
the main types of cars as described below:

Types of Cars

Following are the different types of cars:

1. Sedan
2. Sports car
3. Station wagon
4. Coupe
5. Hatchback
6. Convertible
7. Utility vehicle
8. Minivan
9. Pickup truck
10. Off-road vehicle
11. Luxury vehicle
12. Hybrid vehicle
13. Limousine
14. Self-driving car
15. Pony car
16. Electric car
17. Crossover
18. Truck
19. Microcar

Read Also:
1. What Is Overdrive Transmission And How It Works? [Overdrive Mechanism]
2. 6 Most Common Gearbox Problems [That may lead to unnecessary repair]
3. Top 10 Best Tips To Save Fuel

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Types of Cars

1. Sedan

The sedan is a closed-body car (fixed metal roof), with engines, passengers, and cargo in separate
compartments. It's a passenger car in a three-compartment configuration with each separate for the
engine, passenger, and baggage.

In 1912, the sedan was first used as a name for the car body. The name sedan comes like a litter, sedan
chair, an individual enclosed box with windows from 17th-century development, they are driven by the
porter.

This vehicles comes in many categories, they are available in sizes ranging from small (Nissan Versa and
Kia Rio) to compact (Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla) to medium size (Honda Accord, Nissan Ultima) and
large-size (Toyota Avalon, Dodge Charger).

Read Also: What are Chassis and Frame? Its, Types and Working [PDF]

2. Sports Car

A sports car is manufactured to maintain the thrill of handling, performance, or driving. Sports cars
developed in Europe in the 1900s and currently produced by many manufacturers worldwide.

These types of cars are the sportiest, most passionate, attractive, and the convertible groundless,
smooth and usually high in cost. They are usually available with two-seater but sometimes have smaller
rear seats.

The cars like the Mazda Miata and Porsche 911 are common sports cars. But you can extend it by
including muscle cars like the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.

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Types of Cars

3. Station Wagon

The body look is quite similar to that of a hatchback car, but the station wagons are larger and likely to
extend to the roof-line at the rear of the vehicle's body (resulting in the car having a vertical rear
surface) to give enough space baggage and for small cargo.

A station wagon is a car body style with a two-box design, a large luggage area, and a rear tailgate that is
open to entering the luggage area. It is also known as an estate car, estate, or wagon.

The wagon is available of Subaru Outback or Audi A4 Allroad, make a ground clearance, and some
rugged body cladding like a sport-utility vehicle (SUV).

4. Coupe

A coupe is a passenger car with a slanted or trimmed rear roof and typically two-door (although many
four-door cars have also been sold as coupes). The coupe was first fitted in horse-drawn trains for two
passengers with no rear seats.

This includes cars like the Ford Mustang or Audi A5, or two-seater sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette
and Porsche Boxster. More recently, however, car companies have begun to apply the term "coupe" to
four-door cars or crossovers with lower, sleeker roofs than they are "coupe-like".

This includes vehicles as different as a Mercedes-Benz CLS sedan and BMW X6 SUV are of a coupe with
two-door cars.

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Types of Cars

5. Hatchback

The hatchback is a car hatch type with rear doors that often open upward and usually have a given
volume for passenger and baggage areas. When the car's body style is described as a hatchback, it
usually refers to a utilitarian small car (especially in the United States).

However, hatchbacks are also employed on sports cars, SUVs, and big luxury cars. Compact hatchbacks
are popular and relatively popular are backpacks (a type of hatchback) in European countries.

Kia Rio and Volkswagen Golf are two common hatchback cars. Recently, rear hatchers have found their
way onto some big cars like the Audi A7 and Kia Stinger.

6. Convertible

The convertible is a passenger car that can be run with or without a roof. The roof retracts and storage
methods differ between models. These cars also called cabriolets or spiders.

A convertible provides for an open-air driving adventure, with the facility to provide a roof when
needed. The potential drawbacks of convertibles are structural stiffness and reduced baggage area.

Most of the convertibles have an entirely operated fabric roof that faces downward, but some have to
be lowered through the hand.

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Types of Cars

There are several numbers of models with a retractable hardtop, as well as unusual quasi-convertibles
like the Mazda MX-5 Miata RF, Porsche 911 Targa and Corvette, the front section of this car's roof is
retracts or can be removed by hand.

7. Utility Vehicle

A utility vehicle is a type of vehicle, usually motorized, designed to perform a specific function with
greater efficacy than a passenger vehicle. This sometimes indicates to trucks with lower sides.

The armored utility vehicle type of vehicle is actually used by the military and is also known as a military
utility vehicle. This includes vehicles such as military tanks, trucks, etc.

These types of cars are similar to a station wagon, but they are built on a light-truck chassis and are
provided with four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, among other off-road hardware.

8. Minivan

The Minivan is an American car designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row with reusable
seats in two or three rows. The minivan usually has one or two box bodies such as a high roof, flat floors,
sliding doors for back passengers, and high H-point seating.

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Types of Cars

Minivans are family cars, best at carrying people with cargo in a useful package. Most minivans have
movable seats in their second and third rows that can be removed or even folded into the floor to form
an open baggage compartment. Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica are good examples of the Minivan.

9. Pickup Truck

A pickup truck is a light-duty truck with an attached cab and a large open baggage area with fewer sides
and a tailgate. Practically all pickup trucks offer a rough form of all-wheel drive or part-time four-wheel
drive the latter only for off-road use.

With one difference the medium-sized Honda Ridgeline pickup bodies are mounted on a separate steel
frame. The Ridgeline is like a crossover in which the rear part of the roof is cut to expose the baggage
bed.

Full-size and mid-size are the two categories of pickup trucks. Now in North America, pickup trucks are
often used as passenger cars and account for about 18% of the vehicles sold in the USA.

10. Off-road Vehicles

An off-road vehicle is a type of vehicle, capable of driving on a paved or sand surface. These are
determined by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexible suspension, or caterpillar tracks.

Off-road vehicles have huge intense fans due to their versatility. Many types of motorsports include off-
road racing vehicles. The most common use of these vehicles is for viewing in areas far from the asphalt.

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Types of Cars

In these types of cars, the value of high clearance and high traction wheels allows access on trails and
forest roads, which have rough and low traction surfaces. Off-road vehicles are available to see like Jeep
Wrangler, Land Rover Range Rover & Ram 1500 Rebel.

11. Luxury Vehicles

A luxury vehicle offers enhanced levels of comfort, equipment, features, quality, performance and
condition relative to regular cars for a large price.

Universally, most of the luxury cars were large vehicles, although smaller sport-oriented models were
always manufactured. The Compact luxury vehicles are such as hatchbacks and off-road, sport utility
vehicles are nearly current trends.

The cheapest luxury cars are available to see like Buick Encore, Acura ILX, Buick LaCrosse, Buick Envision,
Lexus UX and many more.

12. Hybrid Vehicles

These vehicles commonly use two or more specific types of power, such as submarines they use diesel
when surfaced and batteries when immersed. Other means of energy-storing involve pressurized liquids
in hydraulic hybrids.

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Types of Cars

To produce cars that are environmentally friendly and offer superior performance, car companies have
developed hybrid cars. They use basic principles with hybrid vehicles is that different motors work
better at various speeds.

The electric motor is further capable of producing torque, or turning power, and the combustion engine
is good at maintaining the high speed of the vehicle. But, hybrid cars cost significantly more.

Therefore, car manufacturers are offering light-hybrid cars that reduce consumption but are not as
popular as pure hybrid vehicles. MG Hector, Toyota Glanza, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord are the models
of hybrid vehicles.

13. Limousine

A limousine refers to a limo for short, is a large luxury vehicle operated by Chauffeur with a barrier
between the driver's compartment and passenger compartment. A long-wheelbase luxury sedan with
two or more doors run by a professional driver is called a stretch limousine.

In rich countries like the United States, Germany, Canada, a "limousine service" is a pre-booked rental
car with a driver, regardless of the type of vehicle. It describes a large vehicle to take passengers to and
from the airport.

The Batmobile, The American Dream, The Beast, The Midnight Rider, and Toyota Century Royal are the
very expensive type of limousines.

14. Self-driving Car

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Types of Cars

A self-driving car is a fully automated vehicle. It is able to sense the environment and driving safely
without human input. They are also known as autonomous vehicles (AV), driverless cars, or robot cars.

Self-driving cars use a variety of sensors to reflect their surroundings, such as radar, LIDAR, sonar, GPS,
odometry, and inertial measurement units. Advanced control systems describe proper navigation paths,
as well as sensor information to identify obstacles and relevant signals.

15. Pony Car

The Pony car is an American car kind with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image for a cheap,
compact, and highly-styled coupe or convertible.

In these types of cars, they feature a rear-wheel drive, a longer hood, a shorter decklid, a wider range of
options to differentiate each car, and the use of mass-produced parts shared with other models.

The demand for pony cars is largely due to the launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964. The currently
produced pony cars are Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger.

16. Electric Car

The electric cars are powered by one or more electric motors using the energy stored in rechargeable
batteries. In the 1880s, the first working electric cars were manufactured.

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Types of Cars

Electric cars were popular in the 19th and 20th centuries as long as the use of electric drive vehicles
from internal combustion engines, especially electric starters. And the mass production of cheap petrol
(gasoline) and diesel vehicles reduced the use of electric drive vehicles.

Electric vehicles (EVs) need to charge their batteries and can last to a certain extent. With a maximum
emphasis on environmentally friendly automobiles and an effort to reduce carbon pollution.

The electric cars are available to see like Tesla Model 3, Kia e-Niro, Jaguar I-Pace, Kia Soul EV, and
Hyundai Kona Electric but they are high in cost.

17. Crossover

A Crossover is a type of sport utility vehicle (SUV) with Unibody construction. They are also known as
also called crossover utility vehicles (CUV). Crossovers are usually based on a platform given with a
passenger car.

As compared to truck-based SUVs, they typically have good internal comfort, a more relaxed ride, better
fuel consumption, and lower off-road capability.

Apart from that, there are discrepancies about whether some vehicles are considered crossovers or
SUVs. Therefore, the term "SUV" is frequently used as a catch-all for both crossovers and compact SUVs.

As of 2006 in the United States, the crossover model included more than 50% of the total SUV market.
Citroen C3 Aircross, Volkswagen T-Cross, Kia Stonic, Mazda CX-3, and Seat Arona are the models of
crossover.

18. Truck

A truck is a motor vehicle produced to transport cargo. Trucks differ greatly in size, power, and shape.
Sometimes the truck is also called a lorry. Smaller types may be mechanically related to some
automobiles.

Commercial trucks are rather large and powerful and can be configured to be mounted with special
equipment, in the case of refuse trucks, fire trucks, concrete mixers, and suction excavators.

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Types of Cars

The difference between the truck and tractor is that a vehicle without a trailer or other connection is
formally a "truck" and one designed specifically to pull a trailer is a "tractor".

Modern trucks are mostly developed by diesel engines, although small to medium-sized trucks with
gasoline engines exist in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Dump Truck, Cement Mixer, Tractor-Trailer,
Flatbed are the types of trucks.

19. Microcar

The microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, consisting of three or four wheels and
often smaller engines than 700 cc (43 FVcu). Common types of microcars include bubble cars, bicycle
cars, invacar, quadricycles, and voiturettes, and the Japanese equivalent is the Kei car.

Microcars are usually covered by separate rules for ordinary cars, requiring rest for registration and
licensing. Most of the microcars are powered by petrol or diesel engines, although electric-powered
microcars have become more popular in recent years.

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Types of Cars

Conclusion

That’s it. We have discussed all the types of cars that are available to see in this modern automobile
industry. But if you still have any questions on this article you can ask in the comment we will respond to
you.

If you like this article then please share it with your friends. Finally, subscribe to the newsletter to get
notifications of our new posts. It's Free.

You might like to read more in our blog:

1. List of Car Engine Parts: Read About Their Functions (With Pictures)
2. 19 Major Car Engine Problems and Their Possible Causes
3. 16 Types of Tires for Cars: Read Where and When To Use Them?

Images under creative common license: Wikipedia and pixabay

TheEngineersPost.com Page 12

Common questions

Powered by AI

Hybrid vehicles use a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, which allows them to be more energy-efficient and reduce emissions compared to traditional combustion engine cars . However, they still rely on fossil fuels to some extent. Pure electric vehicles, powered entirely by electric motors using energy stored in batteries, do not produce emissions during operation, making them more environmentally friendly . Economically, hybrid vehicles typically have a lower initial cost compared to electric vehicles due to less expensive technology, but electric vehicles can result in lower operating costs over time due to savings on fuel and maintenance. The higher initial cost of electric vehicles can be a barrier to adoption despite their long-term savings potential .

Sports cars are primarily designed to enhance the thrill of handling, performance, or driving. They often feature two-seats and have a sporty design with a focus on performance characteristics such as acceleration and top speed, often coming at a higher cost . In contrast, pony cars, though also maintaining a sporty and performance-oriented image, are noted for their affordable price and compact size. They often feature rear-wheel drive, a longer hood, a short decklid, and are usually mass-produced with parts shared with other models .

Luxury vehicles focus on delivering high levels of comfort, equipment, quality, and performance, and they typically target consumers willing to pay a premium for enhanced driving experiences . These vehicles emphasize sophisticated technology and upscale materials. In contrast, pony cars aim to provide sporty and performance-oriented experiences at a relatively affordable price point, focusing on younger or budget-conscious consumers desiring style and power . While luxury vehicles highlight refinement and exclusivity, pony cars are appeal-driven by performance and classic styling .

A coupe typically features a sporty design with a slanted or trimmed rear roof, usually possessing two doors and seating primarily for two passengers, which impacts its functionality by offering less space and accessibility compared to sedans . Sedans have a more traditional closed-body style with four doors and a three-compartment configuration for passengers, engines, and cargo, offering better practicality for families or individuals needing more space and ease of access . This makes coupes more attractive for drivers valuing style and sportiness over utility .

Minivans are distinguished by their one or two box bodies design, high roof, flat floors, and sliding doors, designed for easy transport of passengers and cargo, often with movable and foldable seats to maximize cargo space . In contrast, station wagons offer a larger cargo space extending to the roofline with a vertical rear surface providing adequate space for baggage. However, they are not specifically optimized for large passenger volumes like minivans, which can efficiently transport people in configured two or three seating rows .

Pickup trucks are designed primarily for transporting cargo, featuring a light-duty truck structure with an enclosed cab and a large open bed with low sides and a tailgate . They are often used as both cargo transporters and passenger vehicles in North America. Off-road vehicles, on the other hand, are engineered for rough terrain, equipped with large tires, deep treads, and flexible suspension systems to handle rugged landscapes . While pickup trucks are versatile and can handle some off-road conditions, off-road vehicles are primarily built for tackling challenging environments beyond paved roads, thus appealing to enthusiasts and professionals needing high-traction and clearance capabilities .

Self-driving cars rely on a variety of sensors, including radar, LIDAR, sonar, GPS, odometry, and inertial measurement units to perceive their environment and navigate without human intervention . Advanced control systems process this sensor data to identify obstacles, map navigation paths, and follow traffic regulations. Safety concerns involve potential sensor failures, susceptibility to hacking, limitations in complex scenarios like inclement weather, and the challenge of decision-making in unpredictable human-driven environments. Ensuring the reliability of these technologies and clear regulatory frameworks are vital for widespread adoption .

Microcars are the smallest size of cars, usually with engines smaller than 700 cc, often found in urban environments where limited space and fuel efficiency are paramount . They present the advantage of being easy to maneuver and park in crowded city conditions while also often being subject to lighter regulations for taxation and insurance. However, they face challenges such as limited power and space, making them less suitable for longer travels or carrying multiple passengers and their cargo. They also may offer less safety compared with larger vehicles, impacting their desirability in markets prioritizing safety .

Advancements in battery technology have significantly impacted the development of electric cars, allowing for longer driving ranges and faster charging times, which brings them closer in utility to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles . Improvements in electric motor efficiency and manufacturing have also made electric cars more competitive in performance and cost. Unlike traditional vehicles reliant on combustion processes, electric cars benefit from instant torque, reduced mechanical complexity, fewer emissions, and the potential for integration with renewable energy sources. These advancements drive electric cars' growth despite challenges such as charging infrastructure and battery recyclability .

Crossovers, or CUVs, are based on a unibody construction similar to that of passenger cars, which allows for better internal comfort, a smoother ride, and better fuel efficiency than traditional truck-based SUVs with body-on-frame construction . While they generally offer less off-road capability than traditional SUVs, crossovers are designed to appeal to consumers looking for a combination of efficiency and higher seating position akin to an SUV without the capability and robustness of a traditional four-wheel-drive vehicle .

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