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A sedan /sɪˈdæn/ — also saloon — is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for engine, passenger and cargo.^[1]

Sedan's first recorded use as a name for an automobile body was in 1912.^[2] The name comes from a 17th century development of a litter, the sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows carried by porters.

Variations of the sedan style of body include: close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan and sedanet/sedanette.

Definition

The current definition of a sedan is a car with a closed body (i.e. a fixed metal roof) with the engine, passengers and cargo in separate compartments.^[3] This broad definition does not differentiate sedans from various other car body styles, but in practice the typical characteristics of sedans are:

• a B-pillar (between the front and rear windows) that supports the roof^[4]
  


• two rows of seats^[5](p134)
  


• a three-box design with the engine at the front and the cargo area at the rear^[6][7]
  


• a less steeply sloping roofline than a coupé, which results in increased headroom for rear passenger and a less sporting appearance.^[8]
  


• a rear interior volume of at least 33 cu ft (0.93 m³)^[9][10]
  

It is sometimes suggested that sedans must have four doors (to provide a simple distinction between sedans and two-door coupés).^[11] However, several sources state that a sedan can have two or four doors.^{[5](p134)[12][13]} In addition, terms such as sedan and coupé have been more loosely interpreted by car manufacturers since 2010.^[14]

When a manufacturer produces two-door sedan and four-door sedan versions of the same model, the shape and position of the greenhouse on both versions may be identical, with only the B-pillar positioned further back to accommodate the longer doors on the two-door versions.^[15]

Etymology

A sedan chair, a sophisticated litter, was an enclosed box with windows used to transport one seated person. Porters at the front and rear carried the chair with horizontal poles.^[16] Litters date back to long before ancient Egypt, India and China. Sedan chairs were developed in the 1630s. Reputable etymologists suggest the name of the chair very probably came through Italian dialects from the Latin sedere meaning to sit.^[17]

The same experts report that the first recorded use of sedan for an automobile body occurred in 1912 when a new Studebaker model was described by its manufacturers as a sedan.^[17][18] The same American dictionary provides this description: "Sedan (Chiefly North American) an enclosed automobile for four or more people, having two or four doors".^[17]

There were fully enclosed automobile bodies before 1912. Long before that time the same fully enclosed but horse-drawn carriages were known as broughams in the United Kingdom. They were berlines and berlinas in France and Italy. Both names are still used there for sedans.

There is an unsubstantiated claim that the body of a particular 1899 Renault Voiturette Type B was the first motor vehicle that was a sedan.^[19][20] It was a two-door two-seater vehicle with an extra external seat probably for a footman/mechanic.

Georgano claims the earliest usage matching a modern definition of a sedan (i.e. a fixed roof car seating at least 4 people) was a 1911 Speedwell sedan manufactured in the United States.^[21](p87)

International terminology

In American English and Latin American Spanish, the term sedan is used (accented as sedán in Spanish).^{[citation needed]}

In British English, a car of this configuration is called a car or a saloon. Hatchback sedans are known simply as hatchbacks (not hatchback saloons); long-wheelbase luxury saloons with a division between the driver and passengers are limousines. Super saloon is often used to describe a high performance saloon car where sports saloon would have been used in the past. Saloon has been used by British car manufacturers in the United States, for example, the Rolls-Royce Park Ward.^{[citation needed]}

In Australia and New Zealand sedan is now predominantly used, they were previously simply cars. In the 21st century saloon is still found in the long-established names of particular motor races.^{[citation needed]}

In other languages, sedans are known as berline (French), berlina (European Spanish, European Portuguese, Romanian, and Italian) though they may include hatchbacks. These names, like sedan, all come from forms of passenger transport used before the advent of automobiles. In German sedans are berlines or limousines and limousines are stretch-limousines.^[22]

Standard styles

Notchback sedans

In the United States notchback sedan distinguishes models with a horizontal trunklid. The term is generally only referred to in the marketing when it is necessary to distinguish between two sedan body styles (e.g. notchback and fastback) of the same model range.

Hatchback/liftback sedans

Several sedans have a fastback profile, but instead of a trunk lid, the entire back of the vehicle lifts up (using a liftgate or hatch). Examples include the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, Audi A5 Sportback and Tesla Model S.

The names "hatchback" and "sedan" are often used to differentiate between body styles of the same model. Therefore the term "hatchback sedan" is not often used, to avoid confusion.

Fastback sedans

There have been many sedans with a fastback style.

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Hardtop sedans

Hardtop sedans were a popular body style in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. Hardtops are manufactured without a B-pillar leaving uninterrupted open space or, when closed, glass along the side of the car.^[23][24][25] The top was intended to look like a convertible's top but it was fixed and made of hard material that did not fold.^[22]

All manufacturers in the United States from the early 1950s into the 1970s provided at least a 2-door hardtop model in their range and, if their engineers could manage it, a 4-door hardtop as well. The lack of side-bracing demanded a particularly strong and heavy chassis frame to combat unavoidable flexing. The fashion may have delayed the introduction of unibody construction.

In 1973 the US government passed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216 creating a standard roof strength test to measure the integrity of roof structure in motor vehicles to come into effect some years later. Hardtop production stopped in 1976-1977. For a time roofs were covered with vinyl and B-pillars were minimised by using styling tricks like matt black finishes. Stylists and engineers soon developed more subtle solutions.^[22]

Mid-20th century variations

Close-coupled sedans

A close-coupled sedan is a body style produced in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Like other close-coupled body styles, the rear seats are located further forward than a regular sedan.^[5](p43)[26] This reduced the length of the body, so close-coupled sedans (also known as town sedans) were the smallest of the sedan models offered.^[27]

Models of close-coupled sedans include the Chrysler Imperial,^[28][29]Duesenberg Model A^[30] and Packard 745^[31]

Coach sedans

A two-door sedan for four or five passengers but with less room for passengers than a standard sedan. A Coach body has no external trunk for luggage. Haajanen notes it can be difficult to tell the difference between a Club and a Brougham and a Coach body as if manufacturers were more concerned with marketing their product than adhering to strict body style definitions.^[22]

Close-coupled saloons

Close-coupled saloons originated as four-door thoroughbred sporting horse-drawn carriages with little room for the feet of rear passengers.

In automotive use, manufacturers in the United Kingdom used the term for a development of the chummy body where passengers were forced to be friendly because they were tightly packed. They provided weather protection for extra passengers in what would otherwise be a two-seater car. Two-door versions would be described in the US and France as coach bodies.^[32] A postwar example is the Rover 3 Litre Coupé.

Club sedans

Produced in the United States from the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, the name club sedan was used for highly appointed models using the sedan chassis.^[5](p44) Some people describe a club sedan as a two-door vehicle with a body style otherwise identical to the sedan models in the range.^[33] Others describe a club sedan as having either two or four doors and a shorter roof (and therefore less interior space) than the other sedan models in the range.^[5](p44)

The term "club sedan" originates from the club carriage (e.g. the lounge or parlour carriage) in a railroad train.^[5](p44)

Sedanets

From the 1910s to the 1950s, several United States manufacturers have named models either Sedanet or Sedanette. The term originated as a smaller version of the sedan,^[34] however it has also been used for convertibles and fastback coupes.

Models which have been called Sedanet or Sedanette include: 1917 Dort Sedanet,^[35]King,^[34] 1919 Lexington,^[34] 1930s Cadillac Fleetwood Sedanette,^[36] 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette,^[37] 1942-1951 Buick Super Sedanet^[38][39] and 1956 Studebaker.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sedans.

• Car classification


• Limousine


• Sports sedan

References