Trunk - definition

Glossary

The trunk (North American English) or boot (British English) of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. It is also called a tailgate. In Indian English the storage area is known as a dickey (also spelled dicky or diggy), and in South-East Asia as a compartment.

We list the trunk's capacity, in volume, in either liters (l) or cubic feet depending on which model is sold in which markets. There are generally two numbers listed: the first one is the capacity of the trunk itself, the second (larger) number includes that plus what's gained when folding the back seats.

Note however that ways to calculate trunk capacity differ regionally, with the ISO 3832 standard used in Europe while the SAE J1100 standard is the basis for measurements in the US. This means that simply converting a capacity shown in liters to cubic feet will not yield a number that is then directly comparable to other cubic feet numbers that originated in the US market.

Complicating things even further, the US system calculates space differently based on a vehicle's body type, so cubic feet numbers from a hatchback will not be directly comparable to ones for an SUV or van.