zlacker

Cars still release on a yearly schedule decades later and they change almost nothing each year.

>>Gigach+(OP)
Well no. Car models have generations and mid-generation updates (aka facelift).

It's very rare that there are any updates at all within the same generation. Year in model designation is just "ha, look at his looser driving last year BMW" and to show when car left assembly line.

There are some examples where the same generation had a significant upgrade without a facelift, but those are rare. One example I could think of is MX-5 (ND): between 2015 and 2018 there were no changes at all, but in late 2019 there was nearly complete overhaul of its powertrain and then a small update in 2021.

>>0x457+04
There's almost always year over year changes on the same chassis.

>>0x457+04
As far as I'm aware, the idea of a "model year" is uniquely American (perhaps North American) - in the UK, it's not marketed at all.

Everyone can tell the age of every car [1] simply by the license plate (used to be in 1 year increments, since the early 2000s it's been in 6 month increments).

[1]: Yes, yes, before some is pedantic, imported cars don't come under this scheme, and self-assembled cars also have a unique form that mean you can't tell their age.

>>0x457+04
There are also the odd ones due to the pandemic; the 2024 MY I just bought technically had almost no changes from 2023 MY but the reality is that several options that were TECHNICALLY available for the 2023 refresh weren't actually produced in any significant numbers due to supply constraints. Now in 2024 those options are actually hitting, making it almost a mini tech update.

>>calvin+8b
Yes, but those changes aren't making people change cars every year.