What is the 458 launching as ?
The first few Californias at my local dealer were 2009s, I drove one in July. Soon after that 2010 models started arriving. .
I can't speak to current Ferrari practice, but in the '70s, the rule was to designate a car's year by the model year of manufacture, no matter how late in the year the car was made. One of my Dinos was made in Oct. of '72, but was called a '72, not a '73. Today, with many makes of cars, the reverse seems to hold true. If a car is announced in Feb. of one year, it is given the next model year's designation. Just part of today's ADD mentality, I imagine! Fred
True. I got my Scuderia the next day after it arrived at the early November 2008 and it was titled as 2008 model.
The year of manufacture is pretty meaningless these days- at least in the US. The model year depends on what emissions and safety standards the car is being built to, no matter what the brand or where it is made. It should say on a sticker on the car somewhere something to the effect of "This vehicle complies with all federal emissions and safety standards applicable for the year 2010" for a model-year 2010 vehicle. In my industry, heavy trucks, we're building 2011 model year trucks starting this month that comply with 2011 standards. One benefit, you're getting a car that is chronologically an extra year old without the hit of an extra year of depreciation because, your 2010 car bought in 2009, is still a "2010-" unless you pile the miles on in that first year and negate that advantage.
I personally look at the date of manufacture that's labelled on all US ferraris and ignore model year...
It's likely the 458 will debut as a 2010. The real question is whether any 430s will be 2010s - Spiders, coupes, or both. Some 360s were 2005 models, but only Spiders. If you're extremely interested to find out the model year of any car, you don't need to look further than the VIN - the tenth digit denotes the model year: A - 1980 B - 1981 C - 1982 D - 1983 E - 1984 F - 1985 G - 1986 H - 1987 J - 1988 K - 1989 L - 1990 M - 1991 N - 1992 P - 1993 R - 1994 S - 1995 T - 1996 V - 1997 W - 1998 X - 1999 Y - 2000 1 - 2001 2 - 2002 3 - 2003 4 - 2004 5 - 2005 6 - 2006 7 - 2007 8 - 2008 9 - 2009 A - 2010 It's a bit confusing to revert to "A" for 2010 again, but there should be no issues when looking up VINs - only when spot checking them. Of course if you're reading the VIN off a car and have any semblance of common sense you shouldn't have issues, but who knows.
458 is to "Officially" Launch in the US in March of 2010. So I would guess they will all be 2010 models.
IIRC the California GT demo cars the dealers got were 2009s. I think the first ordered customer cars all came as 2010s. Mine was spec'd in April, built in June and delivered in late August and is a 2010 - one of the first 4 delivered by my dealership. My F430 was built in February 2007 and delivered in April 2007 as a 2007.
My Scud was delievered in October 2008 and it was registered as a 2008. Funny, the build date was June 2008.
