the.com/hatchback
The car that swallows IKEA, parallel parks like a ballerina, and refuses to admit it's practical.
means A car whose rear door, including the back window, swings upward as a single hatch to reveal a shared cargo-and-passenger space, usually in a compact two- or three-box body.
from A 20th-century compound of plain English parts. 'Hatch' is the old word for an opening with a lid or door — it traces back to Old English 'hæc,' a half-door or grating, the same root that gives ships their 'hatches' and 'hatchways.' 'Back' is exactly what it sounds like: the rear of the thing. So a 'hatchback' is, transparently, 'the back that is a hatch' — the term arrived alongside the car style itself as the design grew popular in the mid-1900s.
- rear hatch
- Tailgate and rear window lift as one piece
- hot variant
- Hot hatches like the Golf GTI outrun sports cars
- origin
- Term coined in the 1970s American press
- cargo trick
- Fold rear seats, suddenly it's a tiny van
- global staple
- Best-selling body style across Europe and Asia
honda civic hatchback — best-selling hatchback globally with over 27 million units sold since 1972
volkswagen golf — iconic european hatchback with over 35 million sold since 1974
toyota corolla hatchback — world's best-selling car overall, hatchback version launched in multiple generations