The concept of yearly styling updates (a practice adopted from the fashion industry) was introduced to General Motors' range of cars by Alfred P. Sloan in the 1920s.
[7] This has resulted in a few cars in the following model year being introduced in advertisements during the NFL Super Bowl in February.
Some exceptions existed; for instance in the 1950s and 1960s the Rootes Group deliberately copied American practice and performed annual small alterations to its key models such as the Hillman Minx and the Humber Super Snipe.
As in America, the British motor industry did generally announce new models (or updates to existing ones) in September.
New or improved models would be announced in the summer and would be displayed at the British Motor Show which was held in October.
Here they would be seen by the wider industry and buying public for the first time, just as the cars produced in the previous weeks began reaching the dealerships ready for sale.
This convention was not absolute; for instance the original Vauxhall Victor was officially announced in February 1957 with sales beginning later the same month, and subsequent additions and updates to the Victor range were all introduced in February - notably Vauxhall's factory was outside the traditional centre of the industry, being in Luton, and so did not follow the common working calendar.
During the 1960s British car makers began giving journalists access to upcoming models earlier in the year to get announcements out ahead of their rivals and clear of the busy September period.