Given the long amount of preparation required to print an automotive “buff book” (US examples include Car&Driver, Road&Track, Automobile, and MotorTrend), automobile manufacturers customarily provide them with access to concepts and new production vehicles months prior to the “official” public unveiling, requiring them to abide by an embargo on the images and data until a certain date has passed, usually to accommodate a car show or other media event. In these cases, it was to coincide with the North American International Autoshow (NAIAS, aka Detroit Autoshow – 1/13-1/21), with either 1/7/2007 publication or February print issues, which the buff books dropped the last week of a December. As soons as that happened, web outlets like blogs and various forums released their embargoed materials for each model. As a result, many manufacturers have had their marketing plans torn assunder (list and more background inside)…
Production models: 2008 DCX Minivans, 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10. Concepts: Jeep Trailhawk, Chrysler Nassau, Jaguar CX-F, Lincoln MKR. (You’ll note that these are all products from the lon-suffering “home team”.
Take note of this clever photoshop trick to expose the (embargoed) fascia of the 2008 Cadillac CTS. See also the original hoopla over the then all-new 2006 Corvette C6 (sixth generation), and how blog Winding Road fooled the buff books with a little cardboard and ducttape to make a “Blue Devil” Corvette. And lastly, some commentary on the embargo issue as a whole from (forum) GM InsideNews, The Truth About Cars’ (TTAC) Robert Farago, and Autoblog.
