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52-561: The Primula was originally available with two or four doors, with or without a rear hatchback, referred to in Italian as " berlina ". Beginning in 1965, Autobianchi offered a coupé model, a more spacious 2-door fastback designed by Carrozzeria Touring . The Primula was manufactured in the Autobianchi factory in Desio , with production reaching approximately 75,000 before ending in 1970. Prior to

104-585: A footman/mechanic) was the first sedan, since it is the first known car to be produced with a roof. A one-off instance of similar coachwork is also known in a 1900 De Dion-Bouton Type D. A sedan is typically considered to be a fixed-roof car with at least four seats. Based on this definition, the earliest sedan was the 1911 Speedwell , which was manufactured in the United States. In American English , Latin American Spanish , and Brazilian Portuguese ,

156-671: A four-door station wagon from 1958 until 1960 in the Rambler and Ambassador series. 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 sedan body style production ended with the 1978 Chrysler Newport . Roofs were covered with vinyl, and B-pillars were minimized by styling methods like matt black finishes. Stylists and engineers soon developed more subtle solutions. A close-coupled sedan

208-600: A horizontal trunk lid. The term is generally only referred to in marketing when it is necessary to differentiate between two sedan body styles (e.g., notchback and fastback) of the same model range. Several sedans have a fastback profile but a hatchback-style tailgate is hinged at the roof. Examples include the Peugeot 309 , Škoda Octavia , Hyundai Elantra XD , Chevrolet Malibu Maxx , BMW 4 Series Grand Coupe , Audi A5 Sportback , and Tesla Model S . The names hatchback and sedan are often used to differentiate between body styles of

260-483: A larger overall powertrain unit but this was not essential in the type of cars Giacosa proposed. In return such cars would be easier to service and repair and benefit from greater refinement and lower noise levels. Fiat was cautiously accepting of Giacosa's proposal and decided to experiment without risking damage to the image of its popular Fiat-branded cars. Thus the Autobianchi Primula emerged—a car marketed under

312-411: A less crucial nameplate, for which it was an entry into a whole new class of vehicles. The key to Giacosa's design was a compact concentric clutch release mechanism using a hydraulic piston mounted inside a hollow gearbox input shaft, thus doing away with the traditional external clutch lever and release arm and the internal clutch thrust bearing. This allowed the powertrain to be short enough to fit across

364-471: 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. A sedan chair, a sophisticated litter , is an enclosed box with windows used to transport one seated person. Porters at the front and rear carry

416-574: A railroad train's club carriage (e.g.,, the lounge or parlour carriage). 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; however, it has also been used for convertibles and fastback coupes. Models that have been called Sedanet or Sedanette include the 1917 Dort Sedanet, King , 1919 Lexington , 1930s Cadillac Fleetwood Sedanette, 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette, 1942-1951 Buick Super Sedanet , and 1956 Studebaker . Sedans, as

468-546: A significant structure in the front crash structure of the car, it is easier to engineer cars that pass more stringent small overlap crashes with struts, as opposed to those with a double wishbone suspension. Notable examples include the Honda Accord and Civic , as well as the Mercedes E-Class , all of which adopted struts to improve crash performance . The overall simplicity of the design also means there are fewer joints in

520-414: A specific category of automobiles, have had serious social consequences shaped by their design and use. Their compact and fuel-efficient nature has made them a preferred choice for urban and suburban settings, promoting individual mobility. However, this accessibility has contributed to increased urban sprawl and car dependency. Sedans, like other private vehicles, encourage dispersed living patterns, reducing

572-457: Is a body style produced in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Their two-box boxy styling made these sedans more like crossover vehicles than traditional three-box sedans. Like other close-coupled body styles, the rear seats are farther forward than a regular sedan. This reduced the length of the body; close-coupled sedans, also known as town sedans, were the shortest of the sedan models offered. Models of close-coupled sedans include

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624-457: Is called Limousine and a limousine is a Stretch-Limousine . In the United States, two-door sedan models were marketed as Tudor in the Ford Model A (1927–1931) series. Automakers use different terms to differentiate their products and for Ford's sedan body styles "the tudor (2-door) and fordor (4-door) were marketing terms designed to stick in the minds of the public." Ford continued to use

676-546: Is normally used for the front suspension only, where it provides a steering pivot as well as a suspension mounting for the wheel. The first production car to use MacPherson struts is often cited incorrectly as the French 1949 Ford Vedette , but it was developed before MacPherson, with an independent front suspension based on wishbones and an upper coil spring. Only in 1954, after the Vedette factory had been purchased by Simca , did

728-465: Is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles. The name comes from American automotive engineer Earle S. MacPherson , who invented and developed the design. Earle S. MacPherson was appointed the chief engineer of Chevrolet's Light Car project in 1945. He was tasked with developing a new, smaller car for the immediate post-war market, an effort that led to the Chevrolet Cadet. The Cadet

780-514: The 1100/1300 series built in Italy by Innocenti . These larger models did not require the transmission-in-sump arrangement for the purposes of space utilization (as on the Mini) but retained it for design and parts commonality. Fiat's chief designer, Dante Giacosa , recognized the potential of the concept and sought ways to improve on it - namely by removing the transmission from the sump. This would produce

832-558: The British Motor Corporation's Mini , launched in 1959. That car had its transmission integrated into the engine's oil sump, producing a very compact drivetrain for use on a small car. However the Mini had significant transmission problems early in its production run and the arrangement had poor refinement, high noise levels and was awkward to service. The early issues were resolved and the concept spread to larger BMC products, notably

884-676: The Chrysler Imperial , Duesenberg Model A , and Packard 745 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 says 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. Close-coupled saloons originated as four-door thoroughbred sporting horse-drawn carriages with little room for rear passengers' feet. In automotive use, manufacturers in

936-537: The Lancia Beta - the issue at the time in a transverse installation of a twin-cam head being the arrangement of the exhaust manifold of the necessarily cross-flow head). Unlike contemporaneous BMC and Peugeot models, which had the transmission in the oil sump , the Primula had its manual transmission placed end-on, above the differential . The Primula also featured disc brakes on all four wheels, uncommon in small cars of

988-540: The Porsche 911 and Boxster . Geometric analysis shows the assembly cannot allow vertical movement of the wheel without some degree of either camber angle change, sideways movement, or both. It is not generally considered to give as good handling as a double wishbone or multi-link suspension, because it allows the engineers less freedom to choose camber change and roll center . Cars that have cockpit adjustable ride height generally cannot have MacPherson struts because of

1040-641: The Studebaker Four and Studebaker Six models were marketed as sedans. There were fully enclosed automobile bodies before 1912. Long before that time, the same fully enclosed but horse-drawn carriages were known as a brougham in the United Kingdom, berline in France, and berlina in Italy; the latter two have become the terms for sedans in these countries. It is sometimes stated that the 1899 Renault Voiturette Type B (a 2-seat car with an extra external seat for

1092-446: The radius arm . For those reasons, it has become almost ubiquitous with low cost manufacturers. Furthermore, it offers an easy method to set suspension geometry. Many modern versions replace the lower control arm with a wishbone. An anti-roll bar is optional and, if present, is attached by a ball-jointed rod to the spring-damper, or by a ball or elastomerically jointed rod to the wishbone. Because MacPherson struts are packaged with

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1144-535: 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. A sedan ( / s ɪ ˈ d æ n / ) is a car with a closed body (i.e., a fixed metal roof) with the engine, passengers, and cargo in separate compartments. This broad definition does not differentiate sedans from various other car body styles. Still, in practice,

1196-406: The 21st century, saloon remains in the long-established names of particular motor races. 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 the sedan, all come from forms of passenger transport used before the advent of automobiles. In German , a sedan

1248-412: The 992-based 911 GT3, which uses a double wishbone. In recent years, General Motors and Ford have introduced a modified strut set-up, "Hi-Per Strut" and "Revoknuckle" respectively, that split the strut into two components that handle the up-and-down flexibility and steering dynamics separately. The benefits of this design are greater surface contact and reduction in torque steer. The drawbacks are

1300-476: The Primula's engine bay while allowing for the required steering angles and the determined overall width. With the transmission mounted end-on to the engine and the final drive therefore offset from the car's centre line, the Primula had unequal-length driveshafts. Initially, the Primula was fitted with the 1221 cc engine from the Fiat 1100 D (for the coupé it was uprated to 65 hp (48 kW)), but in 1968 it

1352-404: The Primula, all Fiat Group passenger cars were rear-wheel drive ; the larger models followed the classic FR layout (front engine powering the rear axle), and small cars were rear-engined . Meanwhile, a practical concept emerged, namely the front-wheel drive layout with the engine mounted transversely , which allowed for very efficient space utilization. This arrangement had been popularised by

1404-527: The Primula, and the larger Autobianchi A111 . The 128 secured Fiat the Car of the Year title in 1970, with A112 coming second. Sedan (automobile) A sedan or saloon ( British English ) 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

1456-469: The Tudor name for 5-window coupes, 2-door convertibles, and roadsters since all had two doors. The Tudor name was also used to describe the Škoda 1101/1102 introduced in 1946. The public popularized the name for a two-door model and was then applied by the automaker to the entire line that included a four-door sedan and station wagon versions. In the United States, the notchback sedan distinguishes models with

1508-458: The United Kingdom used the term to develop 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 United States and France as coach bodies. A postwar example is the Rover 3 Litre Coupé . Produced in the United States from

1560-515: The additional weight and cost, but it is less expensive than either a double wishbone or multi-link setup. Honda introduced another variation strut set-up, called "dual-axis" , which is used in the suspension design of the Civic Type-R . Another variant of the MacPherson strut is the double pivot front suspension, which splits the lower wishbone into two while retaining the standard upright design of

1612-623: The body is suspended, and the shock absorber , which is usually in the form of a cartridge mounted within the strut (see coilover ). The strut can also have the steering arm built into the lower outer portion. The whole assembly is very simple and can be pre-assembled into a unit. As well, the elimination of the upper control arm allows for more width in the engine compartment, which is useful for smaller cars, particularly with transverse -mounted engines, such as most front wheel drive vehicles have. The assembly can be further simplified, if needed, by substituting an anti-roll bar ( torsion bar ) for

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1664-429: The camber changes that are an unavoidable part of the design. Ride suffers because the shock absorber has almost the same vertical motion as the wheel, so there is relatively little leverage to break the stiction in the seals. A standard single pivot MacPherson strut also tends to have positive scrub where the center of the steering axis is offset from the center of the front tires, which results in torque steer. Despite

1716-513: The chair with horizontal poles. Litters date back to long before ancient Egypt, India, and China. Sedan chairs were developed in the 1630s. Etymologists suggest the name of the chair very probably came through varieties of Italian from the Latin sedere , or the Proto-Indo-European root " sed- " meaning "to sit." The first recorded use of sedan for an automobile body occurred in 1912 when

1768-482: The density of communities and limiting opportunities for local social interactions. This can lead to a decline in neighborhood growth and an increase in reliance on cars for even short trips, increasing environmental and health concerns through CO2 and Greenhouse Gas emissions and reduced physical activity . Furthermore, while sedans are a practical solution for families and individuals, their role in encouraging road-centric urban planning has been criticized for reducing

1820-417: The drawbacks, the MacPherson strut set-up is still used on some high performance cars, because they tend to have relatively small suspension travel, and so do not have the same kinematic problems. Up until the 1989 model year (964), Porsche 911 used a similar strut design that did not have coil springs, using torsion bar suspension instead. Since then, all Porsche 911s have had front MacPherson struts, except

1872-452: The gearbox), with a "dead" axle at the rear. The Primula is thus a car design of far greater significance than is often realised, as its design influence spread, far beyond even the mainstream high volume Fiats such as the 128 and the 127 of the late 1960s which used its driveline layout combined with MacPherson struts (which also allowed space for the gearbox); to every front wheel drive transverse engined car in production today. The Primula

1924-436: The mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, the name club sedan was used for highly appointed models using the sedan chassis. Some people describe a club sedan as a two-door vehicle with a body style otherwise identical to the sedan models in the range. 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. Club sedan originates from

1976-488: The pre-war Stout Scarab could have been an influence, and long-travel struts in aircraft landing gear were well known by that time. The French Cottin-Desgouttes utilized a similar design, albeit with less sophisticated leaf springs , but the Cottin-Desgouttes front suspension was in turn inspired by a 1904 design by American engineer J. Walter Christie . MacPherson designed the strut for all four wheels, but it

2028-527: The revised Simca Vedette switch to using front struts. Following MacPherson's arrival at Ford, the first production car to feature MacPherson struts was the British-built 1950 Ford Consul and the later Zephyr . A MacPherson strut uses a wishbone, or a substantial compression link stabilized by a secondary link, which provides a mounting point for the hub carrier or axle of the wheel. The lower arm system provides both lateral and longitudinal location of

2080-429: The same model. To avoid confusion, the term hatchback sedan is not often used. There have been many sedans with a fastback style. 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 vehicle. The top was intended to look like a convertible's top. However, it

2132-423: The steering axis at the bottom, to clear the tyre, which makes the bottom follow an arc when steering. The MacPherson strut benefited from introduction of unibody construction, because its design requires substantial vertical space and a strong top mount, which unibody construction can provide. Unibody construction also distributes suspension stresses. The strut will usually carry both the coil spring , on which

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2184-492: The suspension to wear, so there is less decline in handling and steering feel over time . Inverted monotube struts can also provide extra rigidity in the front suspension, as seen in the Porsche 911 GT3 and Cayman GT4 , as well as the Subaru Impreza WRX STI . Finally, struts can package more efficiently than other types of front suspension, which allows for significant front cargo space in rear/mid-engined cars, such as

2236-495: The term sedan is used (accented as sedán in Spanish). In British English , a car of this configuration is called a saloon ( / s ə ˈ l u n / ). Hatchback sedans are known simply as hatchbacks (not hatchback saloons ); long-wheelbase luxury saloons with a division between the driver and passengers are limousines . In Australia and New Zealand , sedan is now predominantly used; they were previously simply cars. In

2288-480: The time. The Primula's particular configuration of front wheel drive and transverse engine, but with a gearbox on the end of the engine, ingenious Fiat-designed clutch release mechanism and unequal length drive shafts, rather than a gearbox in the sump like the Mini, has become universal among front-wheel-drive cars. The suspension used a single wishbone and upper transverse leaf spring at the front (which eliminated an upper suspension arm pivot and thus allowed space for

2340-546: The typical characteristics of sedans are: It is sometimes suggested that sedans must have four doors (to provide a simple distinction between sedans and two-door coupés ); others state that a sedan can have four or two doors. Although the sloping rear roofline defined the coupe, the design element has become common on many body styles with manufacturers increasingly "cross-pollinating" the style so that terms such as sedan and coupé have been loosely interpreted as "'four-door coupes' - an inherent contradiction in terms." When

2392-418: The viability of public transportation and active transport modes like walking and cycling. In cities heavily dependent on sedans, air pollution, noise, and traffic fatalities often increase, posing public health risks and environmental challenges . MacPherson strut The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It

2444-412: The wheel. The upper part of the hub carrier is rigidly fixed to the bottom of the outer part of the strut proper. That slides up and down the inner part of it, which extends upwards directly to a mounting in the body shell of the vehicle. The line from the top mount of the strut to the bottom ball joint on the control arm gives the steering axis inclination . The axis of the strut may be angled inwards from

2496-506: Was favorably received in the marketplace and came second in the 1965 European Car of the Year awards, after another front-wheel drive car, the Austin 1800 . This convinced Fiat to develop the drive concept further. In 1969 the first Fiat with a front-mounted transverse engine, the Fiat 128 , was launched, along with two new front-wheel drive Autobianchis: the Autobianchi A112 , smaller than

2548-543: Was fixed and made of hard material that did not fold. 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 a 4-door hardtop. The lack of side bracing demanded a strong, heavy chassis frame to combat unavoidable flexing. The pillarless design was also available in four-door models using unibody construction. For example, Chrysler moved to unibody designs for most of its models in 1960 and American Motors Corporation offered four-door sedans, as well

2600-594: Was in large part due to GM's concerns about the Cadet's forecasted profit margins. After the Cadet project was shelved, a disgruntled MacPherson left GM to join Ford . Patents were filed in 1947 ( U.S. patent 2,624,592 for GM) and in 1949 ( U.S. patent 2,660,449 for Ford), with the latter patent citing designs by Guido Fornaca of FIAT in the mid-1920s. MacPherson's new strut design may have taken inspirations from other earlier designs as well. The strut suspension of

2652-416: Was poised to be a groundbreaking vehicle, and the three prototypes that had been built by 1946 displayed a wide range of innovations. One of these was a revolutionary new independent suspension system that featured what is now known as a MacPherson strut. The Cadet was slated to be the first production vehicle with MacPherson struts, but the project was cancelled in 1947 and never saw commercial production. This

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2704-402: Was replaced with Fiat 124 engines—the berlinas received the 1197 cc 60 hp (45 kW) engine from the standard versions, while the coupé was fitted with the more powerful 1438 cc 70 hp (52 kW) unit. All engines used in the Primula had overhead valves (OHV)—the later twin cam derivative of the 1438 cc unit was not used in any Autobianchi (Fiat did use it later in

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