In the automotive industry, "landau" (fr. Landau) is a style of an automobile body with a roof opening above the passengers or only with an imitation of a removable top.
Initially, this was the name of coach carriages with the same device - the coachman's place was covered with a roof, and the roof could be removed over the passenger seats. They were named so in honor of the German city of Landau, famous for the production of carriages, including those with an open top.
With the advent of automobiles, the name began to be used to refer to a body type similar to a limousine, but with a removable roof over the passenger seats. They were usually used by public figures during parades and ceremonies.
But, as with the "Brige" body type, over time the term has lost its original meaning and European and American automakers began to use it to refer to models in a coupe or sedan body only with an imitation of a removable top in the rear of the car. Usually this part of the roof is painted in a color different from the color of the entire body, or finished with a different material (vinyl, leather).
It should also be noted that the Brazilian and Australian divisions of the Ford Motor Company from the 1970s to the first half of the 1980s produced cars with the same name - Ford Landau. Here, the term is used not only to refer to the body style, but also as the name of the model as a whole.
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