Why New U.S. Model Years Come Out Ridiculously Early
Have you ever wondered why the model year and actual calendar year of production vehicles rarely coincide? Do you ever notice American-made cars have a tendency to come out almost comically early? Have you ever wondered why?
The answer is as uniquely American as the question itself, revolving around agriculture, consumer culture, and television.
Like daylight saving time, the automotive model year owes its antiquated existence to the needs of this nation’s farmers.
“The automotive model year started back in the teens. Farmers would harvest their crops and sell them every fall, and that’s when they had enough cash in their pockets to go out and buy a car. And that’s how the model year started, and eventually that’s how the fall introduction of new cars started,” John Wolkonowicz, an auto analyst and historian, told The Detroit News.
Production limitations also made those first companies product-heavy by the third-quarter and left them lean by the spring.
“In the early days, assembly plants in northern states had trouble with lighting and heating in the winter months,” says Bob Kreipke, Ford Motor Company’s Corporate Historian, “so they mostly produced in the summer months and then put the cars out for sale in the fall.”
The automotive industry eventually agreed upon October 1st as the official start of the new model year. It followed previous sales schedules and coincided with the autumn launch of new television seasons, as A.C. Nielsen dubbed it as the perfect time for advertisers. Automotive companies took notice and began building hype on-screen and off.
“The new model year in the ’50s and ‘60s was designed to bring excitement in cars. Cars were shipped to dealers covered in canvas tarps and dealer showroom windows were painted over to hide the cars until preview night. Dealers had parties in their stores on the night the new cars were shown for the first time,” Wolkonowicz told Detroit News.
Automakers know there is a level of prestige that comes from telling your less auto-savvy neighbors you’ve somehow managed to snag a car an entire year early. That’s why the first cars in the showrooms tend to arrive generously equipped; they know first-round customers will pay more for the opportunity to act smug for a few months.
While fleet has remained important to manufactures, more staggered introduction schedules have become routine with the sales model year pushed ahead even further.
Year-round new-model introductions are the norm. The NHTSA permits vehicles to be designated the next model year if manufactured by January 1st of the preceding calendar-year. For example, a car produced on January 1, 2017 can be sold by the OEM as a 2018 model. This has resulted in even larger model year gaps and the main reason so many vehicles appear in advertisements during the Super Bowl.
Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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I don't recall any papered over windows or big parties at the local dealers in ancient times. One Ford dealer had a model with a retractable hard top. They had it in their showroom and 24/7 the top would go down into the trunk and then return over and over. I don't think that made for a lot of sales as that model did not last long. Across the street, a few years later, the Chevy dealer had a Corvair on display. A common display mode was the car on a rotating platform with lots of multi colored lights pointed at it.
I don't have a source handy for this, but I remember reading that one of the factors for model year creativity was the date of the annual New York Auto Salon, precursor to today's Auto Shows, back in the '20s or so; the coachbuilders all wanted to show off their new stuff and what they showed became "next year's model".