Trunk (automobile)

Trunk (automobile)

The trunk or boot of an automobile or car is the vehicle's main storage compartment. Trunk is used in North American English and Jamaican English, while boot is used elsewhere in the English-speaking world – except in South Asia, where it is usually called a dickie.

The compartment is most often located at the rear of the vehicle, as storage areas are normally at the end of the vehicle opposite to which the engine is located. Some mid-engined cars (such as the Ferrari 360) and rear-engined cars (such as the Volkswagen Beetle and the classic Porsche 911) have it in the front. Vehicles such as the Volkswagen Type 3 have storage compartments both in the front and in the rear, above the low-profile boxer engine. The mid-engined Fiat X1/9 also has two storage compartments, although the rear one is very small, but practically cuboid in shape. Sometimes during the life of the vehicle the lid may be restyled to increase the size or improve the practicality and usefulness of the boot/trunks shape. Examples of this include the Beetle redesign to the 1970s 'Super Beetle' and the pre-war and 1950s post war Citroën Traction Avant.