![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:01 • Filed to: None | ![]() | ![]() |
I know that the Series 8 FD3sis listed as having started production in 1998, but I see a ton of 1998 models that have all the Series 8 appointments both inside and out. So, I got to wondering, did the Series 8s start showing up as late 1998 models? Or what's up?
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:07 |
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Maybe it's just a mix-up between the weird system of MY that the American market uses (people already buying 2014 cars???) and the system other markets use?
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:13 |
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Possibly! They stopped selling the FD3S in North America in '96, so these are all cars located in Japan I'm looking at. I can't say for certain how their MY system works.
A car has to be 15, years old, to the month of manufacture, for import into Canada. Seeing as how the Series 8 had MASSIVE improvements it would benefit me to import one. And finding a model made in the last few months of 1998 would be a lot easier than finding one made in January 1999. Not to mention I'd rather get a car sooner than later!
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:16 |
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Over here it's the date of the first registration that marks the age of a car, but that's a market where unregistered cars don't sit around dealer lots for months, but get registered ASAP. Dunno how Japan works.
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:20 |
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That's not necessarily true, go back a decade or two and a lot of cars sat unregistered in dealer lots for months, or at least they did here in Sweden. For instance my Celica apparently sat for several months until it got sold in early 1988.
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:36 |
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Are Swedish dealers catering to the American model of having a huge stock? Over here, they have demonstrators that are registered in their name, or they have customer cars that get picked up ASAP after these customers have been waiting for their car to be built in the factory for several months.
My dad ordered his DS3 like 3 months before he took delivery of it. As did other people who actually got a factory fresh car.
![]() 08/08/2013 at 20:48 |
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I recall from what my dad (who works at Hyundai) tells me that a lot of companies (including Citroen I believe) import cars here, register them and then export them elsewhere. Why? So that they can artificially boost the sales statistics. I wouldn't call the stocks "huge" here though, but there are definitely some cars in the dealer lots. Sales fluctuate, and the manufacturer's are bad at anticipating that it seems. Hyundai has been particularly bad at it though, with some cars spending a year in dealer lots.
My dad reckons that the reason my Celica sat in a lot for so long is because it must have been a pretty pricey and therefore difficult car to sell at the time (it's a top trim halo car, after all).