Артқы есігі бар автомобиль корпусының конфигурациясы

Car body configuration with a rear door

A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. While early examples of the body configuration can be traced to the 1930s, the Merriam Webster dictionary dates the term itself to 1970. and is hinged at roof level (as opposed to the boot/trunk lid of a saloon/sedan, which is hinged below the rear window). Most hatchbacks use a two box design body style, where the cargo area (trunk/boot) and passenger areas are a single volume. The rear seats can often be folded down to increase the available cargo area. Hatchbacks may have a removable rigid parcel shelf, or flexible roll up tonneau cover to cover the cargo space behind the rear seats.

When describing the body style, the hatch is often counted as a door, therefore a hatchback with two passenger doors is called a three door and a hatchback with four passenger doors is called a five door.

The first production hatchback was made by Citroën in 1938: the (11CV) "Commerciale" version of their 1934–1957 Citroën Traction Avant series. The initial target market was tradesmen who needed to carry bulky objects, like butchers, bakers, vintners, and grocers. In 1949, Kaiser Frazer introduced the Vagabond and Traveler hatchbacks. These models were styled much like a typical 1940s sedan, fully retaining their three box profile; however, they included a two piece tailgate as per the first Citroën 11CV Commerciale. The Vagabond and Traveler models also had folding rear seats and a shared volume for the passengers and cargo. The design was neither fully a sedan nor a station wagon, but the folding rear seat provided for a large, 8 feet (2 m) long interior cargo area. These Kaiser Frazer models have been described as "America's First Hatchback". The British Motor Corporation (BMC) launched a 'Countryman' version of the Austin A40 Farina twobox economy car in 1959. Just like its A30 and A35 Countryman predecessors, it was a very small estate car — but instead of regular, sideways opening rear doors, it had a horizontally split tailgate, having a top hinged upper door and bottom hinged lower door. The 1959 A40 Countryman differed from the 1958 A40 Farina saloon, in that the rear window was marginally smaller, to allow for a frame that could be lifted with roof mounted hinges and side support struts so that the car now incorporated a horizontal split two piece tailgate. The lower panel was now flush with the floor and its bottom mounted hinges were strengthened.

In 1953, Aston Martin marketed the DB2 with a top hinged rear tailgate, manufacturing 700 examples. Its successor, the 1958 DB Mark III, also offered a folding rear seat. The 1954 AC Aceca and later Aceca Bristol from AC Cars had a similar hatch tailgate, though only 320 were built. In 1965, MG had Pininfarina modify the MGB roadster into a hatchback design called the MGB GT, becoming the first volume production sports car with this type of body. Many coupés have 3 doors, including the Jaguar E Type and Datsun 240Z.

In 1961, Renault introduced the Renault 4 as a moderately upscale alternative to the Citroën 2CV. The Renault 4 was the first million selling, mass produced, compact two box car with a steeply raked rear side, opened by a large, one piece, lift gate hatch. During its production life cycle, Renault marketed the R4 calling it a small station wagon, just like Austin's series of small Countryman estate models from 1954 until 1968 – even after the term "hatchback" appeared around 1970. The company only offered one two box body style. The Renault 4 continued in production through 1992, selling over 8 million cars. In 1965, the R4 economy car was complemented by the D segment Renault 16, the first volume production two box, hatchback family car. The Simca 1100 also came in both three and five door variants, and the hatchback models took a central position, traditionally taken up by saloons, in a full model line up, completed by a station wagon, as well as panel van versions. Also in 1967, Citroën released the Dyane, a redesigned 2CV with a large rear hatch, to compete with the Renault 4. The Simca was closely followed by Mini's larger stablemate, the Austin Maxi. Counting the rear hatch made it a five door saloon. It featured a transverse mounted SOHC engine, a five speed transmission, and a flexible seating arrangement which gave the option of forming a double bed. Created by the same designer as BMC's Mini, sir Alec Issigonis – accountants had determined that the car had to use the same set of doors as the Austin / Morris 1800, but would be marketed below it in the model range, so needed a shorter rear body. A curtailed rear end with a big hatch resulted. In 1974, the Volkswagen Golf was introduced, intended to replace the ubiquitous Beetle. In 1976 British Leyland introduced the Rover 3500, a rear wheel drive executive car five door hatchback. Audi and BMW introduced hatchbacks in 2009, but marketed them as "Sportback" (Audi) or "Gran Turismo"/"Gran Coupe" (BMW). In the 2010s hatchback versions became available on luxury cars such as the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, Porsche Panamera, and Audi A7 while the Skoda Octavia was always available as a hatchback. Meanwhile, three door hatchbacks have seen a fall in popularity, compared with 5 door models. This has led to many models no longer being offered in 3 door body styles, for example, the Audi A3 and Renault Clio.

In 1970, American Motors Corporation (AMC) released the first North American subcompact car since the 1953 1961 Nash Metropolitan, the AMC Gremlin. Although the Gremlin has the appearance of a hatchback, it is frequently called a Kammback coupe instead, with only its rear window being an upwards opening hatch, that gives access to the rear cargo space. The Gremlin was based on the AMC Hornet, but its abrupt hatchback rear end cut the car's overall length from AMC added a hatchback version to its larger compact sized Hornet line for the 1973 model year. The design and fold down rear seat more than doubled cargo space and the Hornet was claimed to be the "first compact hatchback" manufactured by U. S. automaker. The 1975 Pacer featured a rear door or hatchback. A longer model with a wagon type configuration was added in 1977 with its large rear "hatch" as one of the car's three doors, all having different sizes. The 1979 AMC Spirit was available in two designs, a "sedan" with a rear lift up window and a semi fastback "liftback" version. General Motors' first hatchback model was the Chevrolet Vega, introduced in September 1970. Over a million Vega hatchbacks were produced for the 1971–1977 model years accounting for about half of the Vega's total production. The Vega hatchback was also rebadged and sold as the 1973–1977 Pontiac Astre, 1978 Chevrolet Monza S, 1975–1980 Buick Skyhawk, 1975–1980 Oldsmobile Starfire and 1977–1980 Pontiac Sunbird. In 1974, the larger Chevrolet Nova became available in a hatchback body style. The Nova hatchback was also rebadged as the Chevrolet Concours, Pontiac Ventura, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo, and Buick Skylark. In 1980, General Motors released its first front wheel drive hatchback models, the Chevrolet Citation and Pontiac Phoenix. Both AMC and GM offered a dealer accessory that turned their compact hatchback models into low cost recreational vehicles. An example is the Mini Camper Kit for the AMC Hornet, a low priced canvas tent that converted an open hatchback into a camping compartment with room for sleeping. The "Mini Camper" was a weatherproof covering that fitted over the roof section from the B pillar back to the rear bumper that was easy to set up. Ford Motor Company's first hatchback was the Ford Pinto Runabout, introduced in 1971. The Pinto based 1974 1978 Ford Mustang II was offered as a hatchback. The body style was continued for the redesigned Fox platform based 1979 third generation Mustang and the Mercury Capri derivative. For 1981, Ford offered hatchback versions of its sub compact Escort and the badge engineered Mercury Lynx, which were now front wheel drive. Two seat hatchback derivatives were introduced for 1982, the Ford EXP and the Mercury LN 7. Chrysler Corporation's first hatchbacks (and first front wheel drive cars) were the 1978 Dodge Omni / Plymouth Horizon models, which were based on the French Simca Talbot Horizon. These were followed by the 3 door hatchback Dodge Omni 024 / Plymouth Horizon TC3 which were later renamed Dodge Charger and Plymouth Turismo.

The first Japanese hatchbacks were the 1972 Honda Civic, Nissan Sunny, and Nissan Cherry. The Civic and Cherry had front wheel drive powertrains, which later became the common configuration for a hatchback. Along with the Honda Civic, other Japanese hatchback models included the Nissan Pulsar, Toyota Corolla, and Suzuki Swift. Almost all Japanese Kei cars ("city cars") use a hatchback body style, to maximize cargo capacity given the overall vehicle size is limited by the regulations applicable to these vehicles. Kei cars include the Mitsubishi Minica, Honda Life, Suzuki Fronte, Subaru Vivio, and Daihatsu Mira.

The first Soviet hatchback was the rear wheel drive IZh 2125 Kombi, which entered production in 1973. This was followed only in the 1980s by the front wheel drive Lada Samara in 1984, the Moskvitch 2141/Aleko in 1986, and ZAZ Tavria in 1987.

In 2014, four of the top five selling models in Brazil were hatchbacks. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, hatchbacks were less popular than sedans, leading manufacturers to develop compact sedan models for the Brazilian market, for example, the Fiat Premio and sedan versions of the Opel Corsa and Ford Fiesta.

Hatchbacks are the highest selling car body style in India. The Maruti 800 sold over 2.5 million units since its launch in 1983. Since 2004, Maruti 800 has been overtaken by Maruti Alto as the car with highest annual sales. In 2015, Tata Motors launched a hatchback version of the Nano, the least expensive road car in the world.

There has only been one hatchback model produced in Australia, the 1976 1980 Holden Torana hatchback, produced across the LX and UC generations. Up until recent years, buyers in Australia have preferred the station wagon body style, with the big three Australian manufacturers; Holden, Ford Australia, and Chrysler Australia all producing station wagon models of their sedan models. Australia started moving to hatchbacks partially in the mid 1990s with relatively cheap offerings from Hyundai and Honda. Australia now sells mostly hatchbacks, after the last domestic built wagon, the Holden Commodore Sportwagon ceased production in October 2017.