A liftback is a variation of a hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline, roughly between 45 and 10 degrees, whereas traditional or archetypal hatchback designs tend to use a 45 degree to near vertical slope[ citation needed ] on the top-hinged tailgate (often called, and even counted as, a rear 'door' on hatchbacks).
As such, a liftback is essentially a hatchback with a gently sloping roof, with a side profile like that of fastback sedans, from an auto styling perspective. Some liftbacks, especially two-door models, may also have an appearance similar to a coupe, but with a boot / trunk tailgate hinged at the roof end, that is lifted including the rear window to open. Carmaker Saab used this in the marketing of their 900 liftback models, by calling them Combi coupé.
The liftback design combines a sedan or coupé with the rear hatch versatility of a hatchback. Liftbacks generally have more cargo space than the typically shorter bodied hatchbacks, and more space-use flexibility than conventional three-box sedans – but don't offer the space of a more square and boxy station wagon / estate variant of the same model. The aerodynamics of liftbacks can be more closely tear-drop shaped than those of hatchbacks, which due to their steeper down-sloped rears, more often end with a type of Kammback.
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In 1973, Toyota invented the liftback term to describe the sloping roofline variation of the Celica with a tailgate hinged at the roof, as opposed to the regular hardtop coupe variation which was introduced three years earlier. [1] [2] [3] As its roofline slope is uninterrupted, it can also be defined as a fastback-styled hatchback.
The term fastback is not interchangeable with liftback. A liftback is defined as having a tailgate that is hinged from the roof, similarly to a hatchback, whereas a fastback is a broad styling term used to describe any car with an uninterrupted slope in the roofline from the roof to the rear bumper. Thus, although some liftbacks are fastbacks, not all liftbacks are necessarily fastbacks. Additionally, some fastbacks have a tailgate hinged below a fixed rear window, which is not characteristic of a liftback. [4] [5] [6]
Some feel the slope of the rear window is a key determinant in the term liftback, in which the rear cargo door, or hatch, is horizontally angled. As a result, the hatch is lifted more upwards than backwards to open, a lifting action. [7]
Liftbacks were the mainstay of manufacturers' D-segment offerings in Europe in the 1990s to late 2000s, having become popular in the 1980s. [ citation needed ] It was common for manufacturers to offer the same D-segment model in three different body styles: a 4-door sedan, a 5-door liftback, and a 5-door station wagon. Such models included the Ford Mondeo, the Mazda 626 and 6, the Nissan Primera, the Opel Vectra and Insignia, and the Toyota Carina and Avensis. There were also models in this market segment available only as a 5-door liftback or a 4-door sedan, and models available only as a 5-door liftback or a 5-door station wagon. Often, the liftback and the sedan shared the same wheelbase and the same overall length, and the full rear overhang length of a conventional sedan trunk was retained on the five-door liftback version of the car.
The term was sometimes used for marketing purposes, among others, by Toyota, for example, to distinguish between two 5-door versions of the E90 series Corolla sold in Europe, one of which was a conventional 5-door hatchback with a nearly vertical rear hatch while the other one was a 5-door liftback.
Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were not part of this trend in the 1990s, as they did not offer their D-segment or executive cars as 5-door liftbacks back then. However as some other manufacturers started to retire D-segment liftbacks from their European lineup, starting around 2009 Audi and BMW started to sell liftback versions of some of their vehicles but with their own marketing terms, referring to them as Sportback (Audi) or Gran Turismo (BMW). For instance the Audi A4 and Audi A6 sedans had liftback variants known as the Audi A5 Sportback and Audi A7 Sportback, respectively. Interestingly, the Audi A7 Sportback would give rise to the Audi A7L which was an extended-wheelbase sedan of the former. However BMW's liftback variants of the BMW 5 Series (F10) and BMW 5 Series (G30), sold as the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo (F07) and as the BMW 6 Series (G32), were not successful.
The second-generation Škoda Superb, produced from 2008 until 2015, is a car that functions both as a hatchback and a sedan. It features a Twindoor trunk lid that can be opened using hinges located below the rear glass, or together with the rear glass using hinges at the roof. [8]
A station wagon or estate car is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.
The Toyota Celica is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word coelica meaning heavenly or celestial. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to Toyota Corolla Store dealer chain. Produced across seven generations, the Celica was powered by various four-cylinder engines, and body styles included convertibles, liftbacks, coupés and notchback coupés.
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume.
A coupe or coupé is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
A sedan or saloon is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of sedan in reference to an automobile body occurred in 1912. The name derives from the 17th-century litter known as a sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters. Variations of the sedan style include the close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan, and sedanet.
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail.
The Toyota Corona is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's second-highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla.
A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles (SUV), which are built on a body-on-frame chassis construction similar to pickup trucks.
The Toyota Sprinter is a compact car manufactured by Toyota as a variant of the Toyota Corolla. Exclusively sold in the Japanese domestic market, the Sprinter was aimed to be sportier than its Corolla sibling and also using different sheet metal mostly on the C-pillar. The Sprinter and various body styles were exclusive to Toyota Auto Store until 1977 when the Toyota Chaser took the top position. The Corolla is similarly unique to Toyota Corolla Store until the Toyota Celica was offered in 1970, which took the top position. In 1998 Toyota Auto Store and Toyota Vista Store were both replaced by Netz Store.
The trunk or boot of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. It can also be called a tailgate.
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 smaller than luxury saloons / full-size luxury sedans.
The Mitsubishi Colt 800 is the first of a series of passenger cars with a fastback/hatchback design produced by Mitsubishi Motors from November 1965. It was introduced as a two-door fastback sedan, the first such design in the Japanese market. The series was discontinued in 1971, after the introduction of the company's Galant sedan but without a real replacement.
The Corolla E70 was the fourth generation of cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate.
The Corolla E90, introduced in 1987 for the 1988 model year, was the sixth generation of cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate. It was the last generation of Corolla to be classified as a subcompact car and the first to be exclusively front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive; the performance option of rear-wheel drive was dropped.
The Toyota Corolla E80 is a range of small automobiles manufactured and marketed by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 as the fifth generation of cars under the Corolla and Toyota Sprinter nameplates, with production totaling approximately 3.3 million, and most models adopting a front-wheel drive layout.
The G32 BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo is the second generation of the BMW Gran Turismo range of 5-door liftback executive cars launched in 2017, based upon the BMW 5 Series (G30). The 6 Series Gran Turismo is the successor to the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo (F07) that was based upon the 5 Series (F10). A facelifted version of the 6 Series Gran Turismo was unveiled alongside the facelifted 5 Series on 27 May 2020. For 2021, a mild hybrid powertrain was introduced. The 6 Series Gran Turismo was discontinued in August 2023 with no successor.
A coupe SUV is a type of sport utility vehicle with a sloping rear roofline similar to those of fastbacks or Kammbacks. The sloping roofline is adopted to offer a styling advantage compared to its standard SUV counterpart, which helps increase profit margins as manufacturers are able to raise the price by marketing it as a more premium model. Since all coupe SUVs ever produced are of the crossover variety, coupe SUVs may also be called "coupe crossovers" or "coupe crossover SUVs".
A hatchback car is called a liftback when the opening area is very sloped and is lifted up to open.