Brougham (car body)

A brougham was a car body style based on the earlier brougham carriage. Similar in style to the later town car, the brougham style was used on chauffeur-driven petrol and electric cars. Electric broughams in the United States later evolved, becoming owner-driven cars without the outside seat for the chauffeur, but they kept the "brougham" name. By World War II the original meaning of the term "brougham" had been largely forgotten, with American manufacturers using the term to denote a more luxurious trim level on a fully enclosed car. General Motors has since used the term as a model name several times, while manufacturers in the United States have often used the term as a trim package designation.

As a car body style, a brougham was initially a vehicle similar to a limousine but with an outside seat in front for the chauffeur and an enclosed cabin behind for the passengers. As such, it was a version of the town car but, in strict use of the term, with the sharply squared rear end of the roof and the forward-curving body line at the base of the front of the passenger enclosure that were characteristic of the nineteenth century brougham carriage on which the car style was based.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the brougham body style with an outside chauffeur was popular with electric cars. At that time, there were more than 200 manufacturers of these cars in the United States. In the United States during the first two decades of the twentieth century, the front of the body and the chauffeur were often deleted from the design, with controls placed inside for the owner to operate the vehicle. Despite the resulting coupé style, the result was still called a "brougham", causing the term to be applied to a two-door closed vehicle similar to a coupé, especially one electrically driven.

In the United States the term "Brougham" was used from the 1920s to denote short-roofed two- or four-door enclosed bodies similar to sedans. The name was increasingly used to indicate an up-market trim level. From the mid-1940s to the 1980s the term was used as a model name or a trim package for high-end sedans and, in some cases, even convertibles, despite the latter not conforming to the original body style in any way.

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