Coupe

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".

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] 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]

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]

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]

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.

• 
  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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coupes.

• Convertible
• Grand tourer
• Coupé de Ville