Hatchbacks
The three- or five-door bodystyle is now the norm in the small and family car markets in the UK and western Europe, with most buyers opting for the practicality of a through-loading rear tailgate instead of a separate saloon-car boot (witness the sales figures of, say, the Volkswagen Golf compared to the Bora/Jetta).
But hatchback-type designs actually emerged at the luxury bespoke-build end of the car market first: coachbuilders such as Radford adapted the tail-ends of the poshest saloons and sports coupes to meet the demands of their wealthy customers, developing so-called 'shooting brakes', the forerunners to modern-day estates and station wagons. Radford's version of the Mk IV Bentley (1946) was a hatchback (it also allowed the buyer to avoid the 66% purchase tax payable on private cars post-war, as it was classified as a commercial vehicle), as was the 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4 – you could carry your dogs and guns to the shooting party at speed and in style. The Pininfarina-designed Austin A40 Countryman (1958), with a horizontally-split two-piece folding rear door, was an early mass-market example of the genre, though the first mainstream-production model with a one-piece tailgate was the 1961 Renault 4, a car so successful it remained in production for 30 years virtually unchanged.
Popular family hatches included the Renault 16 and Austin Maxi, the benefits of the design quickly being applied to smaller runarounds. The Hillman Imp (1963) managed to cleverly combine a hatchback with a rear-mounted engine, though the first superminis, the Fiat 127 of 1971 and the Renault 4 which arrived a year later, were rather more practical.
One of the first 'hot hatches' – and prestige small hatches – was the three-door 1971 BMW 2002 Touring.
The three- or five-door bodystyle is now the norm in the small and family car markets in the UK and western Europe, with most buyers opting for the practicality of a through-loading rear tailgate instead of a separate saloon-car boot (witness the sales figures of, say, the Volkswagen Golf compared to the Bora/Jetta).
But hatchback-type designs actually emerged at the luxury bespoke-build end of the car market first: coachbuilders such as Radford adapted the tail-ends of the poshest saloons and sports coupes to meet the demands of their wealthy customers, developing so-called 'shooting brakes', the forerunners to modern-day estates and station wagons. Radford's version of the Mk IV Bentley (1946) was a hatchback (it also allowed the buyer to avoid the 66% purchase tax payable on private cars post-war, as it was classified as a commercial vehicle), as was the 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4 – you could carry your dogs and guns to the shooting party at speed and in style. The Pininfarina-designed Austin A40 Countryman (1958), with a horizontally-split two-piece folding rear door, was an early mass-market example of the genre, though the first mainstream-production model with a one-piece tailgate was the 1961 Renault 4, a car so successful it remained in production for 30 years virtually unchanged.
Popular family hatches included the Renault 16 and Austin Maxi, the benefits of the design quickly being applied to smaller runarounds. The Hillman Imp (1963) managed to cleverly combine a hatchback with a rear-mounted engine, though the first superminis, the Fiat 127 of 1971 and the Renault 4 which arrived a year later, were rather more practical.
One of the first 'hot hatches' – and prestige small hatches – was the three-door 1971 BMW 2002 Touring.
Kit cars
A peculiarly British disease, this, though there is an international weakness for, say, assembling lookalike AC Cobras from lengths of tubular steel, or replica Porsche 356s on (old) Volkswagen Beetle underpinnings. There's no end of possibilities if you've got a dry garage and are handy with a spanner.
In recent years, the kit car industry has moved away - pushed by increasing EU safety legislation - from the DIY 'sports cars' and 'jeeps' of the 70s made from bits of old Escorts to sophisticated track day toys built around proprietary chassis.
The most famous of all are, of course, the Lotus Seven-alike Caterhams - although these days, most people buy them ready-made.
A peculiarly British disease, this, though there is an international weakness for, say, assembling lookalike AC Cobras from lengths of tubular steel, or replica Porsche 356s on (old) Volkswagen Beetle underpinnings. There's no end of possibilities if you've got a dry garage and are handy with a spanner.
In recent years, the kit car industry has moved away - pushed by increasing EU safety legislation - from the DIY 'sports cars' and 'jeeps' of the 70s made from bits of old Escorts to sophisticated track day toys built around proprietary chassis.
The most famous of all are, of course, the Lotus Seven-alike Caterhams - although these days, most people buy them ready-made.
MPVs
Multi-purpose vehicles, or people-carriers (and minivans in the US) are more than just vans with seats. These days, they're effectively mobile living rooms, many complete with armchair-type seats, games consoles and DVD players, and their seating/load-carrying configurations are ever more flexible and versatile.
Van-based designs have been popular since the 60s, but Chrysler scaled down its Dodge Ram van to produce a more refined, family-friendly model, the Voyager (late 1983), which was more fuel-efficient, more car-like to drive and capable of fitting in most private garages.
The Voyager, also known as the Dodge Caravan, was influenced by Europe's first MPV. A programme was started by Chrysler Europe in Coventry in partnership with French consultancy Matra. When Chrysler sold out its European division, including Talbot, to Peugeot in 1978, Matra continued the project – this time in a joint venture with Renault. The outcome was the Espace, launched in 1984.
From here, the MPV market has split into numerous sub-genres, such as compact MPVs, mini-MPVs, MPV/4x4 crossovers, with an increasing number of families opting for one in preference to a traditional saloon or estate car.
Multi-purpose vehicles, or people-carriers (and minivans in the US) are more than just vans with seats. These days, they're effectively mobile living rooms, many complete with armchair-type seats, games consoles and DVD players, and their seating/load-carrying configurations are ever more flexible and versatile.
Van-based designs have been popular since the 60s, but Chrysler scaled down its Dodge Ram van to produce a more refined, family-friendly model, the Voyager (late 1983), which was more fuel-efficient, more car-like to drive and capable of fitting in most private garages.
The Voyager, also known as the Dodge Caravan, was influenced by Europe's first MPV. A programme was started by Chrysler Europe in Coventry in partnership with French consultancy Matra. When Chrysler sold out its European division, including Talbot, to Peugeot in 1978, Matra continued the project – this time in a joint venture with Renault. The outcome was the Espace, launched in 1984.
From here, the MPV market has split into numerous sub-genres, such as compact MPVs, mini-MPVs, MPV/4x4 crossovers, with an increasing number of families opting for one in preference to a traditional saloon or estate car.
Off-roaders
An off-roader is not necessarily the same as an SUV (sports utility vehicle). The term generally describes vehicles that really are capable of crossing deserts, climbing mountains and ploughing through axle-deep mud, rather than carrying the kids to school or negotiating the wilds of the Waitrose car park. 'Proper' off-roaders include the Land Rover Defender, Toyota LandCruiser, Mercedes G-Class and Nissan Patrol, all doing service for the military, aid agencies and other bodies in the world's most inhospitable regions.
Some footballers' wives-spec SUVs are also pretty nifty off-tarmac – the Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne, to name just a pair – but you've really got to have a separate body-on-frame chassis and low-ratio gearbox to be credible among the mud-plugging cognoscenti.
Early off-roaders were developed from military vehicles, with Volkswagen's Beetle-based Kubelwagen an early example, but it was the American Willys GP (General Purpose, soon known as the Jeep) which really set the template. The Land Rover followed suit and it's been a downhill slippery slope since then to the road-hogging X5, RX-Series, ML-Class and all the lifestyle-oriented 4x4s.
The first 'luxury 4x4' as such was the Jeep Wagoneer, a good decade earlier than the Range Rover and the forebear of today's Cherokee/Grand Cherokee. Hardcore off-roader fans prefer to wax lyrical about the likes of the Steyr-Puch Haflinger, Mercedes Unimog and the Pinzgauer.
An off-roader is not necessarily the same as an SUV (sports utility vehicle). The term generally describes vehicles that really are capable of crossing deserts, climbing mountains and ploughing through axle-deep mud, rather than carrying the kids to school or negotiating the wilds of the Waitrose car park. 'Proper' off-roaders include the Land Rover Defender, Toyota LandCruiser, Mercedes G-Class and Nissan Patrol, all doing service for the military, aid agencies and other bodies in the world's most inhospitable regions.
Some footballers' wives-spec SUVs are also pretty nifty off-tarmac – the Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne, to name just a pair – but you've really got to have a separate body-on-frame chassis and low-ratio gearbox to be credible among the mud-plugging cognoscenti.
Early off-roaders were developed from military vehicles, with Volkswagen's Beetle-based Kubelwagen an early example, but it was the American Willys GP (General Purpose, soon known as the Jeep) which really set the template. The Land Rover followed suit and it's been a downhill slippery slope since then to the road-hogging X5, RX-Series, ML-Class and all the lifestyle-oriented 4x4s.
The first 'luxury 4x4' as such was the Jeep Wagoneer, a good decade earlier than the Range Rover and the forebear of today's Cherokee/Grand Cherokee. Hardcore off-roader fans prefer to wax lyrical about the likes of the Steyr-Puch Haflinger, Mercedes Unimog and the Pinzgauer.
Superminis
Tiny runarounds – Mini, Fiat 500 – had proved their worth, but until the advent of the supermini, there was little to offer in the car market between these cramped, super-economy vehicles and larger, more cumbersome family cars.
The likes of the Morris Minor, Citroen 2CV and Volkswagen Beetle were all rather dated by the late 60s, but the Ford Escort, Vauxhall Viva, Austin/Morris/BMC 1100 and so on were altogether larger and more expensive. Front-wheel drive, however, allowed for better packaging of small cars, and along with a hatchback rear, even a compact car could have a large, deep and easily-accessible through-loading boot, with folding rear seats for station wagon-style load-carrying.
Fiat's 127 (1971) was the first of the new breed; the Audi-NSU 50, aka Volkswagen Polo, refined the idea further, as did the Peugeot 104 and Renault 5, but it was arguably the 1977 Ford Fiesta which really set the standard and elevated the supermini from a mere budget runaround to a fashionable, savvy choice.
Superminis have long been the best-selling type of car in Europe and. with fuel prices continuing to rise, more and more people are downsizing; even the Americans are coming round to the 'subcompact', as they call 'em over there, and these days, you can have them with all the mod cons of a much larger luxury car.
Tiny runarounds – Mini, Fiat 500 – had proved their worth, but until the advent of the supermini, there was little to offer in the car market between these cramped, super-economy vehicles and larger, more cumbersome family cars.
The likes of the Morris Minor, Citroen 2CV and Volkswagen Beetle were all rather dated by the late 60s, but the Ford Escort, Vauxhall Viva, Austin/Morris/BMC 1100 and so on were altogether larger and more expensive. Front-wheel drive, however, allowed for better packaging of small cars, and along with a hatchback rear, even a compact car could have a large, deep and easily-accessible through-loading boot, with folding rear seats for station wagon-style load-carrying.
Fiat's 127 (1971) was the first of the new breed; the Audi-NSU 50, aka Volkswagen Polo, refined the idea further, as did the Peugeot 104 and Renault 5, but it was arguably the 1977 Ford Fiesta which really set the standard and elevated the supermini from a mere budget runaround to a fashionable, savvy choice.
Superminis have long been the best-selling type of car in Europe and. with fuel prices continuing to rise, more and more people are downsizing; even the Americans are coming round to the 'subcompact', as they call 'em over there, and these days, you can have them with all the mod cons of a much larger luxury car.