I have a cousin who recently moved into a starter home. I think the advertising called it Bijou, which has turned out to be posh-speak for very, very small.

The house does have the benefit of a garage although the architect seems to have ignored the fact that getting in and out of a car normally involves opening the doors, which is impossible in the space available.

So, enter the hatchback. My cousin crawls from the driver’s seat and exits via the hatchback door which, luckily, can be opened from the inside.

This particular ‘functional advantage’ of the third door is not something that you see advertised in glossy car brochures but is certainly something that is useful in my cousin’s case.

The USA had station wagons but the first real instance of the hinged rear door on production road cars in Europe was the Renault 4, introduced in 1961. Since then there has been massive growth in the market with most manufacturers offering 3 or 5-door variants of their leading models.

Of course, one of the most iconic designs will always be the Morris Traveller with its pair of vertically hinged doors, as shown above.