An automobile body structure has a side sill formed of inner and outer panels, a central pillar joined to the side sill to extend upwardly therefrom, a rear fender panel extending upwardly from the outer panel of the side sill to form the edge of a door opening and rearwardly of this edge to form a body panel, and a reinforcement extending rearwardly together with the inner panel of the side sill to form a closed cross-section therebetween and joined at its rear end to the rear wheelhouse. The structure greatly improves the body strength rearward of the center pillar.

Rocker moldings are molded of polymer material and include a front section and a rear section joined by bridge arrangements. A preferred embodiments includes two bridge elements connected to a rear edge of the front section and to a front edge of the rear section. The bridge elements span a gap between the front and rear edges and allow for longitudinal expansion of the rocker panel moldings to accommodate thermal expansion in the underlying rocker panels and to provide for slight longitudinal adjustment in the rocker panel moldings while fitting the moldings to rocker panels.

A vehicle body structure which increases the rigidity of a side door supporting mechanism which is defined by a vertical supporting pillar and a horizontal rocker panel. The structure has a reinforcement member which is sandwiched between a lower portion of an outer pillar panel and an outer rocker panel, and is fixed to the outer pillar and rocker panels by welding methods, resulting in the increased rigidity of the entire side door supporting mechanism.

A rear body structure of an automotive vehicle includes a roof side rail disposed at an upper end of the body structure and extends longitudinally in a vehicle body. A belt line reinforcement is located downward of and extending substantially parallel with the roof side rail. A center pillar structure extends in up and down directions and is attached to the roof side rail at an upper end and to the belt line reinforcement intermediate of the upper end and a lower end of the center pillar structure. A rear pillar structure extending in the up and down directions is located rearward of the center pillar structure and attached to the roof side rail at an upper end and to the belt line reinforcement intermediate of the upper end and to a lower end of the rear pillar structure. A quarter pillar member extending in the up and down directions is located between the center pillar and the rear pillar and attached to the roof side rail at an upper end and to the belt line reinforcement intermediate of the upper end and a lower end of the quarter pillar member. A quarter pillar reinforcement is mounted on the quarter pillar member and is attached to the roof side rail at an upper end of the quarter pillar reinforcement and to the belt line reinforcement at a lower end of the quarter pillar reinforcement.

An automobile body side structure including a front side outer panel and a rear side outer panel. The front side outer panel defines a side door opening and formed with a rear pillar reinforcement at the rear end of the side door opening. The rear side outer panel includes a rear fender outer panel section and a rear pillar outer panel section formed at the front edge portion of the rear fender outer panel section. A rear pillar inner panel is welded to the rear pillar outer panel section at the front and rear edge portions with the rear pillar reinforcement panel section interposed therebetween to form a rear pillar of a closed cross-section.