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(The following exchange started here)
Well, I prefer to pay attention to what manufacturers say rather than the unsourced opinions of people on the internet
. (FWIW I agree with dsl MYs should only apply if there's a visible difference that makes it the next year and until recently 'next year's model' would not be released until late on in the year. I'm also not sure we would notice most of the minor changes made for a new model year cf that Vauxhall link).
So, is it the case that French model years were based around dates of registration rather than anything official from a manufacturer? So a car built in 1999 unregistered until July 2000 would be a 2001 model under this French system? That definition is quite different from the car industry definition of a model year (it seems to be a date of registration to me) and might explain why it was abolished.
The 2000/2001 year range is special, so using it for an example is hazardous
Something is certainly missing in my explanation, as model year and registration are separated things in France too. I should have written "made" rather than "sold" in my first post about the 2000/2001 change:
• During the "pre-2000 era" (and until last year I thought it was still done), a vehicle made after July 1st in year Y was sold as a Y+1 model year. It's the standard model year concept. And a vehicle made in May Y but sold in December Y or January Y+1 was still a Y model year despite its delayed registration number.
→ The registration number could change if the owner or the vehicle moved (or would relocated fit better?) from a department to another: this number can't therefore be used to identify the model year. It gives at most a range of years, with the year of this registration as last possible model year;
• From 2001 onwards, the makes can no longer refer to a Y+1 model year for vehicles made in year Y: a vehicle made in December 2005 is a 2005 model, its sibling made in January 2006 is a 2006 model, even if there is no difference between the 2 models.
→ Until 2009, same idea as before for the registration number;
→ Since mid-2009, the registration number is given to the vehicle à la British way, i.e. it's a vehicle life-long number, whatever the moves.
→ Due to the way the factories handle their production nowadays, the registration date of a vehicle unveiled after mid-2009 is usually close to the date of production.
So if I'm not mistaken, using now the registration number to identify the "model year" of a French vehicle is the same thing as using the 1st registration date given by the DVLA for a British one, despite the fact that in both cases it's not the accurate production date (with a long span of time between the two dates for some vehicles, in UK
).
Quote From: Sandie
Well, I prefer to pay attention to what manufacturers say rather than the unsourced opinions of people on the internet
. (FWIW I agree with dsl MYs should only apply if there's a visible difference that makes it the next year and until recently 'next year's model' would not be released until late on in the year. I'm also not sure we would notice most of the minor changes made for a new model year cf that Vauxhall link). So, is it the case that French model years were based around dates of registration rather than anything official from a manufacturer? So a car built in 1999 unregistered until July 2000 would be a 2001 model under this French system? That definition is quite different from the car industry definition of a model year (it seems to be a date of registration to me) and might explain why it was abolished.
The 2000/2001 year range is special, so using it for an example is hazardous
Something is certainly missing in my explanation, as model year and registration are separated things in France too. I should have written "made" rather than "sold" in my first post about the 2000/2001 change:
• During the "pre-2000 era" (and until last year I thought it was still done), a vehicle made after July 1st in year Y was sold as a Y+1 model year. It's the standard model year concept. And a vehicle made in May Y but sold in December Y or January Y+1 was still a Y model year despite its delayed registration number.
→ The registration number could change if the owner or the vehicle moved (or would relocated fit better?) from a department to another: this number can't therefore be used to identify the model year. It gives at most a range of years, with the year of this registration as last possible model year;
• From 2001 onwards, the makes can no longer refer to a Y+1 model year for vehicles made in year Y: a vehicle made in December 2005 is a 2005 model, its sibling made in January 2006 is a 2006 model, even if there is no difference between the 2 models.
→ Until 2009, same idea as before for the registration number;
→ Since mid-2009, the registration number is given to the vehicle à la British way, i.e. it's a vehicle life-long number, whatever the moves.
→ Due to the way the factories handle their production nowadays, the registration date of a vehicle unveiled after mid-2009 is usually close to the date of production.
So if I'm not mistaken, using now the registration number to identify the "model year" of a French vehicle is the same thing as using the 1st registration date given by the DVLA for a British one, despite the fact that in both cases it's not the accurate production date (with a long span of time between the two dates for some vehicles, in UK
).