2016 car models in February?

[Myk Rian]

KIA Sorento is one. I saw an ad for a 2016 yesterday. Are they kidding? In February?

[Randy Red Bemont]

Usually it's June or July for the next model year. February is way too early.

Red

[Jerome Stanek]

I remember when they weren't allowed to bring them out till Sept.

[Chris Hachet]

The new Miata is coming out as a 2016, not sure when it will be at dealers. The VW TDI Golf Wagon also is coming out as a 2016, probably in March or April.

[Brian Elfert]

Not all that unusual. I thought some Federal law states they can't have a model year on a car more than one year ahead of the calendar year? When Ford introduced the Super Duty trucks in 1998 they skipped the 1998 model year and went from 1997 to 1999.

[Mike Lassiter]

I have one of them. Truck built in early 98 and titled as a 99. And ordering parts sometimes is confusing for these. Mine is considered an "early 99" then in 99 they totally changed the turbo and intake and exhaust and they are considered a 99-1/2 model.

[Jim Becker]

KIA Sorento is one. I saw an ad for a 2016 yesterday. Are they kidding? In February?

Sometimes when there is a major refresh or new platform roll-out, a manufacturer will have a "short year" followed by a "long year". Jeep did this a couple years ago with the MY13 Grand Cherokee being a "short model year" (just a few months) with the introduction of the MY14 with production starting in January and in showrooms by the beginning of March. The refreshed MY14 had production through early June 2014 and MY15 started shipping in late summer...so the MY14 "lasted" for a year and a half. Jeep will be doing it again with the Grand Cherokee with a slightly delayed MY16 with a slight interior/exterior refresh including a 75th anniversary special trim and then a shorter MY17 that will close out the current platform...which they extended an extra year from the original plan. An all new platform will debut for the MY18 JGC.

This is likely what Kia is doing. They are no different than any other manufacturer in that respect.

[Bob Turkovich]

I can think of two non-nefarious reasons for doing so.

1.) If your plant downtime/retooling pushes you into a early calendar-year launch, you only have to spend marketing/advertising/emissions certification/fuel economy certification $$$ once for one long model year, not twice for one short year + one normal year. Could save a chunk of operating cost.

2.) Given the ever-increasing EPA standards for vehicle fleet fuel economy, if you are launching a highly fuel efficient model and you're counting on it to make your fleet FE number, you may want to have more than 12 months of sales to positively affect that number (especially since launches start out at low volume.)

[John Coloccia]

KIA Sorento is one. I saw an ad for a 2016 yesterday. Are they kidding? In February?

They're just trying to save a few bucks. TV air time starts getting expensive in March due to all the Christmas sales.

[Jason Roehl]

They're just trying to save a few bucks. TV air time starts getting expensive in March due to all the Christmas sales.

I see what you did there.

[Bill Orbine]

2016 models could be obsolete by time 2016 rolls around.

[Ty Williams]

Not all that unusual. I thought some Federal law states they can't have a model year on a car more than one year ahead of the calendar year? When Ford introduced the Super Duty trucks in 1998 they skipped the 1998 model year and went from 1997 to 1999.

The rule/law is that the car's MY must be the calendar year containing the Jan 1st on which the MY was available. That's a poor way to phrase it, but I can't think up a better way. So 1/2/2015 to 12/31/16 is legal to call it the 2016 model year. So basically a model year can run a total of 2 years minus two days. You can skip a MY that way by shipping, for instance, the 2014s up until 12/31/14, leaving the excess inventory on the lots as "last year's model" on New Years Day, then rolling out the 2016s on 1/2/15. Poof, no 2015 MY.

[Dave Lehnert]

Wonder if they will ever do away with model year and switch to just a model number?
Something like Ford F150 8.1, 8.2, 9.0 etc.....