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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the car body style. For other uses, see Coupe (disambiguation).
Infiniti Q60 luxury coupé

Look up coupe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A coupe or coupé (/kuːˈpeɪ/, also US: /kuːp/) is a passenger car with a sloping or

truncated rear roofline and two doors.[1][2]
The term coupé was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without
rear-facing seats.[3][4] It comes from the French past participle of couper, "cut".[3]

Etymology and pronunciation [edit]

Coupé (French pronunciation: [kupe]) is based on the past participle of the French
verb couper ("to cut") and thus indicates a car which has been "cut" or made shorter
than standard.[3] It was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without
rear-facing seats.[4] These berlines coupés[5] or carrosses coupés ("clipped carriages")
were eventually clipped to coupés.[6]
There are two common pronunciations in English:

 /kuːˈpeɪ/ (koo-PAY) – the anglicized version of the French pronunciation of coupé.

 /kuːp/ (KOOP) – as a spelling pronunciation when the word is written without an accent.[6]
[7]
 This is the usual pronunciation and spelling in the United States,[8] with the pronunciation
entering American vernacular no later than 1936[9] and featuring in the Beach Boys' hit 1963
song "Little Deuce Coupe".

Definition[edit]

1955 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

A coupe is a fixed-roof car with a sloping rear roofline and one or two rows of seats.
However, there is some debate surrounding whether a coupe must have two doors for
passenger egress[10][11][12] or whether cars with four doors can also be considered coupes.
[13]
 This debate has arisen since the early 2000s, when four-door cars such as the Mazda
RX-8 and Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class have been marketed as "four-door coupes" or
"quad coupes", although the Rover P5 was a much earlier example, with a variant
introduced in 1962 having a lower, sleeker roofline marketed as the Rover P5 Coupé.
In the 1940s and 1950s, coupes were distinguished from sedans by their shorter roof
area and sportier profile.[14] Similarly, in more recent times, when a model is sold in both
coupe and sedan body styles, generally the coupe is sportier and more compact. [4][15][16]
The 1977 version of International Standard ISO 3833—Road vehicles - Types - Terms
and definitions—defines a coupe as having two doors (along with a fixed roof, usually
with limited rear volume, at least two seats in at least one row and at least two side
windows).[17] On the other hand, the United States Society of Automotive
Engineers publication J1100[18][when?] does not specify the number of doors, instead defining
a coupe as having a rear interior volume of less than 33 cu ft (934 L).[4][15]
The definition of coupe started to blur when manufacturers began to produce cars with
a 2+2 body style (which have a sleek, sloping roofline, two doors, and two functional
seats up front, plus two small seats in the back)[19].[20]
Some manufacturers also blur the definition of a coupe by applying this description to
models featuring a hatchback or a rear cargo area access door that opens upwards. [21]
[22]
 Most often also featuring a fold-down back seat, the hatchback or liftback layout of
these cars improves their practicality and cargo room. [23]

Horse-drawn carriages[edit]

Example of a coupe carriage

The coupe body style originated from the berline horse-drawn carriage. The coupe
version of the berline was introduced in the 18th century as a shortened ("cut") version
with no rear-facing seat.[5][24][25][26] Normally, a coupe had a fixed glass window in the front
of the passenger compartment.[27] The coupe was considered an ideal vehicle for women
to use to go shopping or to make social visits. [28]

History[edit]
The early coupe automobile's passenger compartment followed in general conception
the design of horse-drawn coupes,[29] with the driver in the open at the front and an
enclosure behind him for two passengers on one bench seat.[30][31] The French variant for
this word thus denoted a car with a small passenger compartment. [29]
By the 1910s, the term had evolved to denote a two-door car with the driver and up to
two passengers in an enclosure with a single bench seat. [32][33] The coupé de ville, or
coupe chauffeur, was an exception, retaining the open driver's section at front. [34]
In 1916, the Society of Automobile Engineers suggested nomenclature for car bodies
that included the following:[33][35]
Coupe: An enclosed car operated from the inside with seats for two or three and
sometimes a backward-facing fourth seat.
Coupelet: A small car seating two or three with a folding top and full height doors with
fully retractable windows.
Convertible coupe: A roadster with a removable coupe roof.
During the 20th century, the term coupe was applied to various close-coupled cars
(where the rear seat that is located further forward than usual and the front seat further
back than usual).[36][37]
Since the 1960s the term coupe has generally referred to a two-door car with a fixed
roof.[38]
Since 2005, several models with four doors have been marketed as "four-door coupes",
however reactions are mixed about whether these models are actually sedans instead
of coupes.[39][40][41] According to Edmunds, an American automotive guide, "the four-door
coupe category doesn't really exist." [42]

Variations[edit]
Berlinetta[edit]
Main article: Berlinetta

A berlinetta is a lightweight sporty two-door car, typically with two-seats but also
including 2+2 cars.[43]
Club coupe[edit]
A club coupe is a two-door car with a larger rear-seat passenger area, [4] compared with
the smaller rear-seat area in a 2+2 body style.
Hardtop coupe[edit]
A hardtop coupe is a two-door car that lacks a structural pillar ("B" pillar) between the
front and rear side windows. When these windows are lowered, the effect is like that of
a convertible coupe with the windows down.[44] The hardtop body style was popular in the
United States from the early 1950s until the 1970s. It was also available in European
and Japanese markets.[45][46] Safety regulations for roof structures to protect passengers
in a rollover were proposed, limiting development of new models. [47] The hardtop body
style went out of style with consumers while the automakers focused on cost reduction
and increasing efficiencies.[44]
Combi coupé[edit]
Main article: Combi coupé

Saab used the term "combi coupé" for a car body similar to the liftback.[48]

A 1936 Packard One-Twenty business coupe

Business coupe[edit]
A two-door car with no rear seat or with a removable rear seat intended for traveling
salespeople and other vendors carrying their wares with them. American manufacturers
developed this style of a coupe in the late 1930s. [49]
Four-door coupe / quad coupe[edit]
A four-door fastback car with a coupe-like roofline at the rear. The low-roof design
reduces back-seat passenger access and headroom.[50] The designation was first used
for the low-roof model of the 1962–1973 Rover P5,[51] followed by the 1992–1996 Nissan
Leopard / Infiniti J30.[52] Recent examples include the 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS,
2010 Audi A7 , Volkswagen Arteon, and 2012 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe.[53][54][55]
Similarly, several cars with one or two small rear doors for rear seat passenger egress
and no B-pillar have been marketed as "quad coupes". For example, the 2003 Saturn
Ion and 2003 Mazda RX-8.

1976 Volkswagen Scirocco, a 3-door hatchback with coupe-inspired styling

Three-door coupe[edit]
Particularly popular in Europe, many cars are designed with coupe styling, but a three-
door hatchback/liftback layout to improve practicality, including cars such as the Jaguar
E-Type, Mitsubishi 3000GT, Datsun 240Z, Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, Alfa Romeo
Brera,[56] Ford/Mercury Cougar[57] and Volkswagen Scirocco.[58]
Opera coupe[edit]
A two-door designed for driving to the opera with easy access to the rear seats.
Features sometimes included a folding front seat next to the driver [59][60] or a compartment
to store top hats.[61]
Often they would have solid rear-quarter panels, with small, circular windows, to enable
the occupants to see out without being seen. These opera windows were revived on
many U.S. automobiles during the 1970s and early 1980s. [62][need quotation to verify]
Three-window coupe[edit]
The three-window coupe (commonly just "three-window") is a style of automobile
characterized by two side windows and a backlight (rear window). [63] The front
windscreens are not counted. The three-window coupe has a distinct difference from
the five-window coupe, which has an additional window on each side behind the front
doors.[64] These two-door cars typically have small-sized bodies with only a front seat
and an occasional small rear seat.[65]
The style was popular from the 1920s until the beginning of World War II. While many
manufacturers produced three-window coupes, the 1932 Ford coupe is often
considered the classic hot rod.[66][67][68]
Coupe SUV[edit]
Main article: Coupe SUV

Some SUVs or crossovers with sloping rear rooflines are marketed as "coupe crossover

SUVs" or "coupe SUVs", even though they have four side doors for passenger egress to
the seats and rear hatches for cargo area access.

Positioning in model range[edit]

1974–1978 AMC Matador coupe

In the United States, some coupes are "simply line-extenders two-door variants of family
sedans", while others have significant differences to their four-door counterparts. [69]
The AMC Matador coupe (1974–1978) has a shorter wheelbase with a distinct
aerodynamic design and fastback styling, sharing almost nothing with the
conventional three-box design and more "conservative" four-door versions. [70][71][72]
Similarly, the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Stratus coupes and sedans (late-1990
through 2000s), have little in common except their names. [73] The coupes were
engineered by Mitsubishi and built in Illinois, while the sedans were developed by
Chrysler and built in Michigan.[74] Some coupes may share platforms with contemporary
sedans.
Coupes may also exist as model lines in their own right, either closely related to other
models, but named differently – such as the Alfa Romeo GT or Infiniti Q60 – or have
little engineering in common with other vehicles from the manufacturer – such as
the Toyota GT86.
Gallery[edit]


1932 Ford Model 18 - a three-window coupe

 

1937 Buick 37 46S - an opera coupe

 

A 1946 Ford V8 - a club coupe.

 

1948 Bentley coupe de ville
 

1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta - a Berlinetta coupe

 

1978–1987 Saab 900 marketed as a combi coupe

 

2010 Mazda RX-8 - marketed as a four-door coupe

 

2017 Ford Mustang
 

2020 Toyota GR Supra - 3-door liftback/fastback coupe

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coupes.

 Convertible
 Grand tourer

References[edit]
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