Coupé utility


A coupé utility is a vehicle with a passenger compartment at the front and an integrated cargo tray at the rear, with the front of the cargo bed doubling as the rear of the passenger compartment.
The term originated in the 1930s, where it was used to distinguish passenger-car based two-door vehicles with an integrated cargo tray from traditional pickup trucks that have a separate cargo bed from the passenger compartment. Since the 2000s, these vehicles have also been referred to as "pick-ups", "car-based pick-up" and "car-based truck".
In Australia, where the traditional style of coupé utility remained popular until it ceased production in 2017, it is commonly called a "ute", although the term is also used there to describe traditional style pickups.

History

The body style originated in Australia. It was the result of a 1932 letter from the wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia, to Ford Australia asking for "a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays". In response, Ford designer Lew Bandt developed a vehicle to meet the client's request. Commencing in October 1933 with assistance from draftsman A. Scott, Bandt used the passenger compartment and roof from the Ford V8 5 window coupe and extended the rear section using a single fixed side panel on each side, with a hinged tailgate at the rear to create the load carrying compartment. The model was released in July 1934 as the coupe utility. In his book "Early Australian Automotive Design: The First Fifty Years", Australian motoring historian Norm Darwin suggests the idea was not a big leap in design from the existing roadster utility that had been produced by various manufacturers as early as 1924. Darwin also suggests that the idea was being developed by other manufacturers simultaneously, as General Motors-Holden's Ltd released Bedford and Chevrolet coupe utilities in September 1934 only two months after Ford, with the main difference being the use of the three window coupe roof on the GM-H products. Other manufacturers were quick to follow with coupe utilities based on various passenger and light truck chassis.
In North America, this idea was also trialed by some manufacturers. Studebaker created the Studebaker Coupe Express and sold it between 1937-1939.
In 1951, Holden released a model based on its 48-215 sedan, reinforcing the Australian tradition of home-grown two-door passenger-car sedan chassis based "utility" vehicles with a tray at the back, known colloquially as a ute, although the term is also applied to larger vehicles such as pickup trucks.
America followed suit with the release of the Ford Ranchero in 1957 and Chevrolet El Camino in 1959.

North American models

Chevrolet El Camino
The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupé utility/pickup vehicle that was produced by Chevrolet from 1959 to 1960 and from 1964 to 1987.
Introduced in 1958 in response to the success of the Ford Ranchero pickup, its first run lasted only two years. Production resumed in 1963 based on the Chevelle A-platform. In 1977 it was shifted to the GM G-body platform. Production finished in 1987.
Although based on corresponding Chevrolet car lines, the vehicle is classified and titled in North America as a truck. GMC's badge engineered El Camino variant, the Sprint, was introduced in 1970. It was renamed Caballero in 1977, and produced until 1987.
In Spanish, el camino means "the road" or "path".
Other North American coupé utilities

Since the 1970s, utes have been built in Brazil under European car-maker badges, usually based in hatchbacks, such as the Ford Courier, based on the Ford Fiesta MkIV. Current examples include the Chevrolet Montana, the Peugeot Hoggar, the Volkswagen Saveiro and the Fiat Strada.
Other South American coupé utility models:
Australian Holden Kingswood, Ford Falcon and Chrysler Valiant utes were sold in South Africa as the Chevrolet El Camino, Ford Ranchero, and Valiant Rustler respectively. Some re-badged versions of South American utes are sold in South Africa under different names, such as the Chevrolet Montana and the Ford Courier, sold there as Chevrolet Utility and Ford Bantam respectively.
Other South American coupé utility models:
Austin Marina
A coupé utility based on the 1971–1980 Morris Marina with a 1275 cc engine was badged as an Austin. There were never many of these truck variants sold.
Mini
Variously badged pick-up variants were built on the chassis of the Mini estate/wagon.
Other European coupé utilities
Coupe utilities have been produced in Australia since the 1930s. The three major Australian manufacturers offered coupe utility versions of their most popular models and many of the smaller manufacturers also offered coupe utilities in their range. In many cases, if a coupe utility was not available as part of the regular model range an aftermarket coachbuilder would build one to customer order. Coupe utilities were also offered by various manufacturers on light truck style chassis, alongside their regular style pickup and cab-chassis offerings.
Examples include:
Ford
General Motors-Holden
Chrysler
BMC
Standard
Rootes Group
Lightburn