When can the model year start?
Automakers cannot introduce a new model whenever they like, and call it, say, a 2003. The earliest permissible date is Jan. 1 of the preceding year.
Taylor Vinson, an attorney for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (and editor of the Automotive History Review), cites federal regulation 49 CFR 565.3 (j).
It refers to “the year used to designate a discrete vehicle model, irrespective of the calendar year in which the vehicle was actually produced, so long as the actual period is less than two calendar years.”
A statute pertaining to Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements provides the following definition: “Model year, when referring to a special calendar year, means (A) the annual production period of a manufacturer, as decided by the [NHTSA] Administrator, that includes Jan. 1 of that calendar year; or (B) that calendar year if the manufacturer does not have an annual production period.”
This is what prevents automakers from releasing a vehicle more than a year before its designated model year.
When enforcing CAFE requirements, NHTSA counts cars toward the model year designated by automakers. For example, a Cadillac CTS is figured into GM’s 2003 CAFE requirement, though it was available for virtually all of calendar 2002.
