Fascia (car)

Confusingly, fascia is used for several different things in the automotive world. Many of these meanings are related to the appearance of the car.

In British English, a car's fascia or facia is its instrument panel and dashboard area which lies in front of the driver and front-seat passenger. It is used primarily in enthusiast and specialist circles.

In recent American English usage, a car's fascia is its front-end "look" - grille, headlamps, front bumper, and other details. This area is possibly the most critical in defining a car's identifiable look, and is also the easiest to restyle when a car's styling needs to be refreshed (due to the fact that front end panels, grille, lights, etc. can be updated with different styling and fitted to the same chassis to significantly change the appearance rather than redesigning the entire body/ chassis of the car). Again, this word is mostly used by the auto trade and automotive journalists. Furthermore, the fascia is used to describe the single panel that conceals the bumper, front or rear, and ties the bumper element visually with the sides of the vehicle—often including an inlet for cooling. 93%^{[citation needed]} of fascias are made of TPO (thermoplastic olefin elastomer). This material is high gloss, has thin wall capability, improved paintability, and a low coefficient of thermal expansion.