Does a car’s year legally mean year

[RonD]

I think Ford has June 1st as the start of the Build year, so a vehicle built in 6/2021 to 5/2022 is a 2022 model year
But nothing "legal" about it

 

[Uncle Gump]

I believe GM also does change over the end of June. So as the rule... vehicles produced in July were sold as the next model year.

Lots of variables apply... but that was the rule

 

[snoranger]

There are no real rules... as long as it meets the requirements for the model year it claims to be, that what they call it. They only thing they can’t get away with is building a new vehicle and saying it’s an older vehicle. (They can’t build a ‘92 Ranger today and only have to meet ‘92 emissions and safety standards, just because they said it’s a ‘92.)
The dealer I worked at got our first ‘97 F150 in March of ‘96.

 

[superj]

Legally, I think you go by the title

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Legally, I think you go by the title

Which goes by the VIN, which is assigned by the manufacturer, right?

 

[Eddo Rogue]

It all started with the 1964-1/2 Mustang....

 

[Ranger850]

IIRC correctly, Ford sold two different body styled F-150s at the same time, circa 1998. The "heritage" the "new"style .

 

[snoranger]

IIRC correctly, Ford sold two different body styled F-150s at the same time, circa 1998. The "heritage" the "new"style .

No, you don’t remember correctly. ‘96 was the last of the old body style f150. ‘97 was the start of the new body style.
If you said f250, you’d be correct. They had late production ‘97 OBS f250s and early production ‘99 f250s.

 

[ZMan]

Kia loves to release their cars super early. I've worked on next model year KIAs as early as February.

Hyundai/KIA can release a 2023 model basically anytime after they've released the 2022 model. they never suffered from a chip shortage and are far ahead of any competition for production. They released the "refreshed" 2021 Santa Fe in 2020, just after a "complete" makeover in 2019.

They're just a hard to get parts for as anyone else right now though. Took us over 90 days to get a front bumper for a 22 Sportage. I've heard some shops over 6 months.

 

[Roert42]

Weren’t they selling square and round nose F150s both as a ‘97 model year?

 

[Ranger850]

Weren’t they selling square and round nose F150s both as a ‘97 model year?

I mentioned something similar but I thought it was '98. @snoranger what do you say?

 

[snoranger]

I mentioned something similar but I thought it was '98. @snoranger what do you say?

They had a heritage F150 in ‘04... which was just a way to use up left over ‘03 parts and label them as ‘04s... and they built ‘04 with the new body style at the same time.
‘98 was the crossover year for 250s and bigger.
Fun fact: Ford didn’t build any ‘98 F350s. They built ‘99 F350s starting in March of ‘98.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Flipping this around, I have to go backwards. I have a 2017 motorhome on an E450 chassis built in 2016. I have to use 2016 when ordering automotive parts and 2017 when ordering motorhome parts

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

They had a heritage F150 in ‘04... which was just a way to use up left over ‘03 parts and label them as ‘04s... and they built ‘04 with the new body style at the same time.
‘98 was the crossover year for 250s and bigger.
Fun fact: Ford didn’t build any ‘98 F350s. They built ‘99 F350s starting in March of ‘98.

They had a heritage F150 in ‘04... which was just a way to use up left over ‘03 parts and label them as ‘04s... and they built ‘04 with the new body style at the same time.

This ^^^. I've had both.

 

[Roert42]

“For the 1997 model year, the ninth generation was gradually phased out of production; the F-150 was replaced by the tenth-generation F-Series (see below)”

“The tenth-generation F-Series was introduced in January 1996 as a 1997 model.