HOME / AUTO CONCEPTS & RUMORS / 2017 Will Be a Huge Year For New Cars

It used to be that cars got a big refresh every year. Looking over the cars of the past, there were worlds of difference between a ’55 and ’56 Chevy, or a ’65 and ’66 GTO. But somewhere along the line, automakers began to favor evolution over revolution from year to year. For the past 40 years or so, models would be subtly updated, and enjoy a longish five-to-seven year production run with a mid-cycle refresh thrown in to keep things fresh. Today, with new technology, evolving safety features, fuel economy, and better construction, cars are evolving faster than ever before, and it might not be long before we return to yearly updates.

There is, of course, a pretty big difference between a mid-cycle refresh and a ground-up design. A refresh usually works off on an existing platform and architecture, allowing for styling and interior upgrades without radically redoing the mechanicals underneath. For the first time in decades, companies are getting surprisingly quick with them, so much so that they can be used to right a sinking ship. In 2012, Honda’s all-new Civic was such a dud, that the company gave the car an “emergency refresh  “The changes made to the 2013 model will make the outgoing 2012 Civic a difficult model [to] sell when they are side to side.” Chevy followed suit in 2013 to make its Malibu sedan a little more palatable.

 “The changes made to the 2013 model will make the outgoing 2012 Civic a difficult model [to] sell when they are side to side.” Chevy followed suit in 2013 to make its Malibu sedan a little more palatable.

New cars take time to develop, can cost upwards of $6 billion, and usually take about five years from inception to production. As a result, it’s rare to see a new car arrive in anything less than half a decade. But even that seems like it could be changing. The 2016 Ford GT supercar took less than two years to develop, and the recently-announced Alfa Romeo Giulia took just a little longer. With the advent of the modular platforms favored by Volkswagen and Volvo, we might be seeing a lot more “all-new” models a lot sooner. But as the are now, the chips are mostly down for 2016 models. To take a look at what’s really in store, we’ll need to skip ahead a year, to 2017.