The marketing termliftback describes ahatchback car body style with a rear cargo door, where the overall roof line and rear cargo door are sloped more like that ofsedans orcoupe — as compared to the more vertical rear cargo door of a more utilitarian hatchback or wagon. A liftback may include fold-down rear seats for increased cargo capacity, providing increased cargo flexibility vs. a conventional sedan or coupe.[4]
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In 1973, Toyota used the marketing term,liftback, to describe the sloping roofline variation of theCelica with a cargo door hinged at the roof, as opposed to the regularhardtop coupe variation which the company introduced three years earlier.[1][2][3] As its roofline slope is uninterrupted, it can also be defined as afastback-styled hatchback.
From the first to the sixth generations Celica, Toyota marketed two body styles asnotchback Coupé andLiftback body styles, with the Convertible based on the notchback became available for the third until sixth generations. The high-performance turbocharged all-wheel-driveGT-Four was only built as Liftback. Only the Liftback was offered for the last or seventh generation.[5]
Toyota also marketed theCorolla Liftback from the third to eight generations. Toyota created two different liftback body shapes for the fourth generation Corolla; the first model with a sloped tailgate was namedCoupé, while the second model with a longer roof and slightly more vertical tailgate was namedLiftback. The notchback coupé model without aB-pillar was marketed asHardtop'.[6]
The termliftback describes a hatchback variant, while the termfastback broadly describes a body style that has an uninterrupted slope in the roofline from the roof rearward. Thus, while most liftbacks are fastbacks, not all fastbacks are liftbacks. Additionally, some fastbacks have a tailgate hinged below a fixed rear window, which is not characteristic of a liftback.[7][8][9]
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Liftbacks were the mainstay of manufacturers'D-segment offerings in Europe in the 1990s to late 2000s, having become popular in the 1980s.[citation needed] It was common for manufacturers to offer the same D-segment model in three different body styles: a 4-door sedan, a 5-door liftback, and a 5-door station wagon. Such models included theFord Mondeo, theMazda 626 and6, theNissan Primera, theOpel Vectra andInsignia, and theToyota Carina andAvensis. There were also models in this market segment available only as a 5-door liftback or a 4-door sedan, and models available only as a 5-door liftback or a 5-door station wagon. Often, the liftback and the sedan shared the same wheelbase and the same overall length, and the full rear overhang length of a conventional sedantrunk was retained on the five-door liftback version of the car.
The term was sometimes used for marketing purposes, among others, byToyota, for example, to distinguish between two 5-door versions of theE90 series Corolla sold in Europe, one of which was a conventional 5-door hatchback with a nearly vertical rear hatch while the other one was a 5-door liftback.
Audi,BMW andMercedes-Benz were not part of this trend in the 1990s, as they did not offer theirD-segment orexecutive cars as 5-door liftbacks back then. However as some other manufacturers started to retire D-segment liftbacks from their European lineup, starting around 2009 Audi and BMW started to sell liftback versions of some of their vehicles but with their own marketing terms, referring to them asSportback (Audi) orGran Turismo (BMW). For instance theAudi A4 andAudi A6 sedans had liftback variants known as theAudi A5 Sportback andAudi A7 Sportback, respectively. The Audi A7 Sportback would give rise to the Audi A7L which was an extended-wheelbase sedan of the former. However BMW's liftback variants of theBMW 5 Series (F10) andBMW 5 Series (G30), sold as theBMW 5 Series Gran Turismo (F07) and as theBMW 6 Series (G32), were not successful.
Thesecond-generation Škoda Superb, produced from 2008 until 2015, is a car that functions both as a hatchback and a sedan. It features aTwindoor trunk lid that can be opened using hinges located below the rear glass, or together with the rear glass using hinges at the roof.[10]
A hatchback car is called a liftback when the opening area is very sloped and is lifted up to open.