Sedan (automobile)

[4] The name derives from the 17th-century litter known as a sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters.

A sedan (/sɪˈdæn/) is a car with a closed body (i.e., a fixed metal roof) with the engine, passengers, and cargo in separate compartments.

[17] A sedan chair, a sophisticated litter, is an enclosed box with windows used to transport one seated person.

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.

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.

A one-off instance of similar coachwork is also known in a 1900 De Dion-Bouton Type D.[22][23] A sedan is typically considered to be a fixed-roof car with at least four seats.

[29] 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.

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.

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 the same model.

Hardtops are manufactured without a B-pillar leaving uninterrupted open space or, when closed, glass along the side of the vehicle.

The lack of side bracing demanded a strong, heavy chassis frame to combat unavoidable flexing.

The objective was to reduce deaths and injuries due to the car's roof crushing into the passenger compartment in case of a rollover crash.

[26] Close-coupled saloons originated as four-door thoroughbred sporting horse-drawn carriages with little room for rear passengers' feet.

In automotive use, manufacturers in the United Kingdom used the term to develop the chummy body, where passengers were forced to be friendly because they were tightly packed.