Car coupe

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Your coupe – sporty and elegant

Allow me, I am a coupe. You know me, even if I am much less often seen on the street than limousines and station wagons. Still, I have a certain nimbus: I’m considered special sporty. Whereby I must admit that my definition is not so simple in this day and age. because over the years i came on the market in more and more new shapes and versions, some of them very different from my classic design.

What are the characteristics of a coupe?

So what are my features? As a classic coupe, I have:

  • A stepped or. Hatchback,
  • A steeply sloping roof with
  • Generally two pillars (A- and B-pillars) and two doors.

But these four points have long since ceased to be set in stone, and are now only a vague norm. Over the years. Decades I have changed a lot. For example, I was initially a two seater, today, on the other hand, I am usually available as a four– or five-seater, so with a second row of seats. Whereas my back seat is quite cramped because of the sloping roof, especially in the headroom. So if you’re a six-footer, you’d better sit up front. Because of the smaller space in the rear, manufacturers also like to call me 2+2 seater. So suggest audi, BMW and co., that I am suitable for a whole family, but the space in the back is only enough for children and teenagers. Not too tall people is suitable.

Car coupe

how i mutated to a four-door-coupe

My two doors and two roof pillars are also no longer a mandatory feature. I owe that to mercedes-benz. With the mercedes CLS in 2004, the stuttgart company threw my concept out the window. Two doors became one with the CLS four, from two roof pillars thanks to an additional C-pillar three. Accordingly, the swabians are regarded as the founders of four-door coupes. But I disagree – because it’s simply not true. because mercedes only revived the idea of a coupe with four doors and three pillars. However, the concept was already conceived in the 1950s. an example of one of these early four-door coupes would be the rover P5 from 1958.

Nevertheless, the mercedes CLS is considered a pioneer today, which promptly found imitators. Volkswagen released the passat CC in 2008, audi the A7 and A5 sportback, BMW the 6 series and 4 series gran coupe. even kia introduced a four-door coupe with the stinger. By the way, all models have one thing in common: they usually belong to the upper class or the upper middle class. This also applies to the stinger or the VW arteon, which was also launched in 2017, even if some experts see these models as station wagons.

Why a four-door coupe is not a coupe after all

Nevertheless, there is me also in lower classes. Like the BMW 2 series. Its sports version, the BMW M2. In fact, the BMW 2 series is one of the few "real" coupes, because the Munich car only has two doors – but as a four-seater (or 2+2-seater) it admittedly also has three roof pillars. The newfangled four-door coupes are more of a marketing gag, even though they are not coupes in the true sense of the word. This is because the "four-door" models blur the boundaries between a classic coupe and a four-door sedan with a notchback too much. The four-door coupe simply combines two segments in one vehicle. Accordingly, the audi A7 sportback or mercedes CLA are neither a true coupe nor a true sedan – but a kind of hermaphrodite.

BMW M6 Coupe

Thus, the four-door coupe is purely an invention of advertising. On the one hand, the industry wants to use the name to give the impression of having created a new segment, on the other hand, carmakers simply use my good reputation to promote sales. After all, I’m considered sporty, agile and dynamic, while sedans or station wagons are considered old-fashioned by some consumers.

How my good reputation is exploited

If you take it seriously, mercedes, audi and co. My legend to sell even more cars – which admittedly works, as my definition is quite fuzzy today after all. sometimes even the porsche panamera or the DS4 are called coupe, although they are more like a hatchback or even a station wagon. Even the distinction from the gran turismo (GT) is anything but clear in the case of the four-door coupe.

You see, I already have it a little hard. So don’t be blinded by the manufacturers if you want to drive a real coupe. because coupe means: two doors, sloping roof, notchback; but certainly not four doors.

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Christina Cherry
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