Hey you guys, my friend tells me that there was a rx-7 at the local dealership the other day that was a 96'!!!! I was like noooo, bc they stopped making them in america in 95', rite?

 

FYI they never made any in America. They stopped importing them in 95, but continued production overseas after that. 96 rx7's do exist, but it is very unlikely to find one for sale at a dealer in the US.

 

Yeah, I was in Japan a couple of months ago on business and saw a "new" 2002 RS with likw 40 kilometers on it sitting right next to a 2004 RX-8. Didn't get the price, but damn it make that 8 look like a sedan!

 

if you see a 96 in the us, it will most likely be a rhd, unless its been converted. 95 models are very rare, since only 500 were made, but if you find i 96 or higher, you have found a rarety, since they stopped importing them to the us in 95.

 

It's doubtful it's an honest to goodness '96 produced model.

Check the VIN:

http://www.k-rad.com/3genfaq

 

Using the whacky USA logic for car years, since all 92 models are called a 93 model. Wouldn't that make the 95 models a 96..???

Hence why the car is being marketed as a 96........

FYI.........

Jap spec series-6 started sales in .......NOV-91
US spec series-6 started sales in ........APR-92 (although for reasons of stupidity all 92 models are called a 93 alongside the actual 93 models)
Oz spec series-6 started sales in ........MAR-92 (thankfully here, the 92 models are actually called a 92 model)

Basically the general consensis is...........

series-6 92-95 = Worldwide export
series-7 96-98 = Japan + Oz
series-8 99-02 = Japan

 

In the United States, cars for a specific year are usually available for sale the preceding fall, which is why you could have bought a 2004 model car in the final months of last year, even though technically it wasn't yet 2004.

"Mid-year" (spring, early summer) model releases are almost always listed as being "next year's" model, especially when a ramp up in production is required or a quality issue is encountered which results in missing the usual release timeframe. The non-existent 1983 Corvette is a good example. GM had some reliability issues with the (then) new C4 platform and missed the release timeframe for a 1983 model because it was more cost effective to delay, sort the problems out, and release early for 1984 than to put cars on the road with known problems.

The reason that there is no "1992 RX-7" in the United States was because Mazda was ramping up production of the new model. An RX-7 available for sale in late 1991 or very early 1992 would have been a 1992 model, but since the 3rd gen. was not ready for importation until mid-year in 1992, all cars produced to that point became "early release" 1993s, as the VIN reflects.