What is a coupe?

A coupe, in the traditional sense of the word as it pertains to cars, is a two-door car with a fixed roof and three-box design. It can be as simple as that, but of course, the automotive world is rarely simple, and vehicles often fall outside limited, definitive boxes.

For example, the “coupe” class has many subcategories that are even more specific than the broad term that coupe is. One should consider a targa with a removable roof panels, like the standard Chevrolet Corvette, to be a coupe. A two-door fixed roof car with a hatchback or liftback would also fall under the “coupe” category. Prominent examples of these coupes include the Toyota GR Supra and Nissan Z.

Meanwhile, the coupe class is still filled with plenty of traditional three-box coupes with traditional trunks and a normal hardtop roof — you know, the cars you instantly think of when the term “coupe” comes up. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe, Ford Mustang, Subaru BRZ/Toyota GR86 and more make up this side of the coupe world.

On the other hand, manufacturers have been stretching the definition of what a coupe is to them for a long while. When you visit Mercedes-Benz’s website and click on the “Coupes” tab, six separate models populate the page. Only three of these “coupes” fit the definition of what we’d call a coupe. The other three (CLA, CLS, AMG GT 4-Door Coupe) are four-door sedans with faster-than-usual rooflines. While the cars might have a more coupe-like silhouette, terming them as “Coupes” is confusing and deeply muddies the water between what a coupe and sedan are.