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Coupe

Coupe de Ville | Sports car | Combi coup� | Coupe Utility | Coupe roadster

1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC coup�, noted for its large, angular design

A coup� (from the French for cut) or coupe is a car body style with a close-coupled interior offering either two seats or 2+2 seating (space for two passengers up front and for two occasional passengers in the rear). Through the 1950s convertible models were sometimes called convertible coup�s, but since the 1960s the term coup� has generally been applied exclusively to fixed-roof models. Coup�s generally, but not necessarily, have two doors, although automobile makers have offered four-door coup�s and three- and five-door hatchback coup�s, as well.

A coup� is distinguished from a sedan primarily by interior volume; SAE standard J1100 defines a coup� as a fixed-roof automobile with less than 33 ft� (0.93 m�, 934.6 L) of rear interior volume. A car with a greater interior volume is technically a two-door sedan, not a coup�, even if it has only two doors. Some automakers may nonetheless choose to use the word coup� to describe such a model, e.g., the Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

Pronunciation

Speakers of American English pronounce coupe as coop (IPA: /kuːp/) and spell it without an accent. In Europe and the UK, the original French spelling, coup�, and a semi-French pronunciation, koo-pay, are often used (/'kuːpeɪ/).

History

In the 19th century a coup� was a short carriage with a single row of passenger seating behind the driver. During the 20th century the term was applied to various close-coupled automobiles. Through the 1950s many automakers offered several varieties of coup�

Club coup� 

a coup� with a larger rear seat, which would today be called a two-door sedan.

Business coup� 

a coup� with no rear seat or a removable rear seat, intended for traveling salesmen and other vendors who would be carrying their wares with them.

Sport coup� or berlinetta 

a uniquely styled model with a sloping roof, sometimes sloping downward gradually in the rear in the style known as fastback.

With the growing popularity of the pillarless hardtop during the 1950s some automakers used the term coup� to refer to hardtop (rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof) models and reserved the term sedan for pillared models. This definition was by no means universal, and has largely fallen out of use with near-demise of the hardtop.

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This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.