[ryude]

Originally Posted by Quentin

Yeah, I know exactly what it means. The first model year car isn't unusable after the "special editions*" come out. They aren't being put out to get early adopters to trade in for a newer one. They are being put out there to maintain interest as the model ages.

You say it like updating through the life of the model isn't common practice in the automotive industry. IMO, planned obsolescence is when Ford refreshed the Mustang and didn't offer the 5.0 and new 3.7 until the 2nd year of the refresh.

*This is assuming the special editions are suspension, interior, and exterior mods and not major powertrain upgrades.

The term was quickly taken up by others, but Stevens' definition was challenged. By the late 1950s, planned obsolescence had become a commonly-used term for products designed to break easily or to quickly go out of style. In fact, the concept was so widely recognized that in 1959 Volkswagen mocked it in a now-legendary advertising campaign. While acknowledging the widespread use of planned obsolescence among automobile manufacturers, Volkswagen pitched itself as an alternative. "We do not believe in planned obsolescence," the ads suggested. "We don't change a car for the sake of change."[5]
In 1960, cultural critic Vance Packard published The Waste Makers, promoted as an exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals."[6]
Packard divided planned obsolescence into two sub categories: obsolescence of desirability and obsolescence of function. "Obsolescence of desirability", also called "psychological obsolescence", referred to marketers' attempts to wear out a product in the owner's mind. Packard quoted industrial designer George Nelson, who wrote: "Design... is an attempt to make a contribution through change. When no contribution is made or can be made, the only process available for giving the illusion of change is 'styling!'"[6]

Since you refuse to read, I have done most of the work for you.