time between new model release and used values falling?

[sneaky]

just wondering how long the turn around is between a 'new' model getting released and the 'previous' model dropping price?

a bit of background. i'm looking at purchasing a FG xr6t, with luxury pack, some time this year. i was planning on buying a euro4 (mid 2010) model later in the year but the wife has given the green light for me to buy sooner rather than later . the budget won't stretch to a 2010 model at the moment but i could buy a 2009 model with the luxury pack.

now here is the dilemma - will the FG series 2 release lower the prices of the FG1 any time soon? does the new model almost instantly lower the price on series 1, or will the prices only start to fall when used series 2 fg's hit the market?

reason behind this is back in the day i did a silly thing and bought a used car (commodore) and within a month a new model got released and killed the resale on the car i had.. so six months later i sold the car for a massive loss ($18k purchase, $12k sale)

so any advice/info/stories/experiences would be good.

thanks
-tim

[2011G6E]

Not long at all.

We boiught our 50th anniversary G6E in March, and it is a November build date car. Sitting on the lot were brand new G6E's fresh off the truck, January build. Our car, even though only a few months old, was still "brand new" with zero kilometers on the clock.

New ones with similar trim and accessories as ours were well over the $50,000 mark (I believe the guy said $54,000 if we ordered it with all the same stuff fitted), but ours, with sat nav and premium stereo, was $47,500 drive away.

So it doesn't take cars long to drop savagely in price, especially if they have a compliance plate with last year on it instead of this year, even if it has zero kilometers and are as "new" as the current ones anyway.

When we had our 1978 XC-Update GXL Fairmont, we had all the paperwork for it as well, as it was a one-owner car when we bought it. I was always curious about what sort of deal the old guy got when he bought it, as the sale date was the end of December 1979 (the 27th springs to mind), so it would have been sitting on the lot with the new and radically different XD Falcons at the time, looking very old fashioned alongside the modern and angular XD's. He must have got a good discount on it.