Combi coupé is a proprietary marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 term used by Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 manufacturer Saab

Saab Automobile

Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

 for marketing their fastback

Fastback

A fastback is a car body style whose roofline slopes continuously down at the back. The word can also designate the car itself. The style is seen on two-door coupés as well as four-door sedans.-History:...

 styled hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

 models.

The term denotes a car with a mixture of a "combi" (a European term for an estate car / station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

) and a coupé

Coupé

A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...

. As a liftback, the Combi Coupé incorporates a shared passenger and cargo

Cargo

Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...

 volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, a top-hinged liftgate

Liftgate

A liftgate, also called a hatch, hatchback or liftback, is a closure at the rear of a vehicle that can be mechanically raised during loading and unloading of cargo...

 — and a fold-down rear seat to allow flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box design, the body style includes an A, B & C-pillar

Pillar (car)

Pillars are the vertical supports of the greenhouse of an automobile — known respectively as the A, B, C or D-pillar moving in profile view from the front to rear....

.

The term was coined by Björn Envall

Björn Envall

Björn Envall, born in 1942, is a retired automobile designer. He was head of the design department at Saab.He started his career in the 1960s at Saab as an apprentice under Sixten Sason, especially helping with the design of the Saab 99 and the ill-fated Saab Catherina sports car...

 and first introduced with the 1974 Saab 99

Saab 99

- Development :On April 2, 1965, Gudmund's day in Sweden, after several years of planning, the Saab board started Project Gudmund. This was a project to develop a new and larger car to take the manufacturer beyond the market for the smaller Saab 96...

. Saab also discussed making a hatchback available for the Saab 96

Saab 96

For the modern car, see Saab 9-6The Saab 96 is an automobile made by Saab. It was introduced in 1960 and was produced until January 1980, a run of 20 years. Like the 93 it replaced, the 96 was a development from the old Saab 92 chassis and, on account of its improvements and modernisation, it...

/Saab 95

Saab 95

The Saab 95 was a 7-seater, 2-door station wagon made by Saab. Initially it was based on the Saab 93 sedan version, but the model's development throughout the years followed closely that of the 96 since the 93 was put off the market in 1960...

 model range and Envall created the prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

 Saab 98

Saab 98

Saab 98 was the number used by Saab for a project in 1974 making a combi coupé based on the Saab 95.Originally it was called X14. The construction of the 98 was based on the Saab 95 floorpan and the design was made by Björn Envall...

.

The term was later applied to the Saab 900

Saab 900

The Saab 900 was a car produced by Saab Automobile from 1978 until 1998 in two generations. The first generation from 1978 to 1993 is known as the "classic"; the generation from 1994 to 1998 is known as the "new generation" ....

 model line-up. Saab's national competitor Volvo

Volvo Cars

Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...

 also made a prototype combi coupé.

At the Paris car show Jason Castriota

Jason Castriota

Jason Castriota is an Italian American automobile designer born in White Plains, New York and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston and attended but dropped out of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After his internship at the Pininfarina design...

 showed models that indicates that the new Saab 9-3

Saab 9-3

The first generation 9-3, a substantially improved 'new-generation' Saab 900 was launched in 1998 for the 1999 model year. Saab claimed that 1,100 changes were made, including a revised suspension in an attempt to tighten up the handling characteristics of its predecessor, the Saab 900...

will be available as a combi coupé. It has since been confirmed that the new 9-3 will be available as a combi coupé, convertible and crossover.