According to the requirements of the standard in the VIN year of manufacture is designated by the 10th digit. Not all manufacturers comply with this – explicitly the year of manufacture in the VIN on the European market is not specified on the cars BMW, HONDA, MAZDA, Mercedes-Benz, NISSAN, Toyota. [The models of these manufacturers, released for the North American market necessarily contain the model year in the 10th character of VIN] The European branch of the company Ford indicates the year of manufacture in the 11th position and in the 12th month of manufacture (11 and 12 characters are recommended by the standard to take away under the serial number of the car).
Since the standard was originally developed by the American Association of Engineers (SAE), they put there the tradition of American manufacturers: at summer car shows, models of the next year of manufacture were presented, which went on sale immediately after the show 🙂 Therefore, the standard recommends that the next model year starts July 1 of the current year. There are two positive points from this: the buyer in the showroom has an additional sign of “freshness” of the current model; the sellers by the New Year have almost no “last year” cars in stock. Since now American manufacturers have moved away from the tradition of annual renewal of the lineup, the first point does not really matter.
Therefore, in general, knowing the calendar year and model year of the car you can determine its age to within six months. Most manufacturers adhere to this recommendation, but there are exceptions:
- JSC AvtoVAZ periodically “plays” with the introduction of the next model year under pressure from the Russian Ministry of Taxes and Levies;
- CJSC ZAZ can change the next model year for its own production in the period from October 1 to December 31;
- Chinese manufacturers, it seems, put the next model year in the VIN from the actual beginning of the calendar year.
| Year of issue | Designation | Year of issue | Designation | Year of issue | Designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 1 | 1991 | M | 2011 | B |
| 1972 | 2 | 1992 | N | 2012 | C |
| 1973 | 3 | 1993 | P | 2013 | D |
| 1974 | 4 | 1994 | R | 2014 | E |
| 1975 | 5 | 1995 | S | 2015 | F |
| 1976 | 6 | 1996 | T | 2016 | G |
| 1977 | 7 | 1997 | V | 2017 | H |
| 1978 | eight | 1998 | W | 2018 | J |
| 1979 | nine | 1999 | X | 2019 | K |
| 1980 | A | 2000 | Y | 2020 | L |
| 1981 | B | 2001 | 1 | 2021 | M |
| 1982 | C | 2002 | 2 | 2022 | N |
| 1983 | D | 2003 | 3 | 2023 | P |
| 1984 | E | 2004 | 4 | 2024 | R |
| 1985 | F | 2005 | 5 | 2025 | S |
| 1986 | G | 2006 | 6 | 2026 | T |
| 1987 | H | 2007 | 7 | 2027 | V |
| 1988 | J | 2008 | eight | 2028 | W |
| 1989 | K | 2009 | nine | 2029 | X |
| 1990 | L | 2010 | A | 2030 | Y |
Other car brands:
VIN Decoder Acura Alfa Romeo Audi Bentley Bugatti Buick Cadillac Chery Chevrolet USA and KOREA Chrysler Citroen Daewoo Datsun Dodge Fiat Ford Google Great Wall Honda Hummer Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Lancia Land Rover and Range Rover Lexus Maserati Maybach Mazda MERCEDES-BENZ (commercial vehicles) MERCEDES-BENZ Mitsubishi Nissan OLDSMOBILE Opel PONTIAC Porsche Renault Saab Saturn Seat SKODA Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo