Editing Model year (section)

=== Other countries ===
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In other countries, it is more common to identify specific vehicles by their year and month of production, and cars of a particular type by their generation, using terms such as "Mark III" or by the manufacturer's code for that kind of car (such as "BL" being the code for a [[Mazda3#Second generation (BL; 2008)|Mazda 3]] built between November 2008 and June 2013).

In Europe, the lesser use of model years as a descriptor is partly because since the 1980s many vehicles are introduced at the [[Geneva Motor Show]] in March, the [[Frankfurt Motor Show]] in September or the [[Paris Motor Show]] in September. New models have increasingly been launched in June or July.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

As with the rest of Europe, the motor industry in the [[United Kingdom]] did not regularly make use of model years in the way common in the US, since cars were not as regularly updated or altered. Some exceptions existed; for instance in the 1950s and 1960s the [[Rootes Group]] deliberately copied American practice and performed annual small alterations to its key models such as the [[Hillman Minx]] and the [[Humber Super Snipe]]. However these were still not identified by model years but by Series numbers, sometimes with alphabetical designations (such as the Minx Series IIIA, IIIB and IIIC) to distinguish what were mostly cosmetic updates rather than mechanical or structural improvements. As in America, the British motor industry did generally announce new models (or updates to existing ones) in September. However this was the norm long before it became practice in the US and did not originate with the television season. Instead it began because the long-established practice in the manufacturing industries of the [[Midlands|English Midlands]], especially [[Coventry]] and [[Birmingham]] where the British car industry developed out of the established [[bicycle]] and [[machine tool]] trades, was to close factories and give workers a two-week holiday in August or September. This was used as a chance to renew tooling in the factory and was an ideal time to introduce new products which would begin production when the workers returned and the factory restarted. Thus the working year in the car industry ran from September to September. New or improved models would be announced in the summer and would be displayed at the [[British International Motor Show|British Motor Show]] which was held in October. Here they would be seen by the wider industry and buying public for the first time, just as the cars produced in the previous weeks began reaching the dealerships ready for sale. Therefore, car models intended for sale during, say, 1960, would be announced and displayed in the third quarter of 1959, with sales beginning before the end of the year, and any improvements intended for 1961 would be announced in September 1960 and displayed at the 1960 Motor Show in October.

This convention was not absolute; for instance the original [[Vauxhall Victor]] was officially announced in February 1957 with sales beginning later the same month, and subsequent additions and updates to the Victor range were all introduced in February - notably Vauxhall's factory was outside the traditional centre of the industry, being in [[Luton]], and so did not follow the common working calendar. Being owned by [[General Motors]], Vauxhall also generally made minor changes to its cars year by year, even referring to 'model years' in some of its literature, but these did not have the same official weight or significant to buyers as they did in America. During the 1960s British car makers began giving journalists access to upcoming models earlier in the year to get announcements out ahead of their rivals and clear of the busy September period. This developed into increasingly lavish and sophisticated media and marketing events happening earlier and earlier in the year. Changes to working practices, the in-roads made to the British market by car makers from other countries and the decline in market share by British firms finally led to the tradition of new models being introduced in September being abandoned, although the British Motor Show continued to be held in October.