Vehicle Identification Section (VIS) is the third and last part of VIN, and is represented by the characters from 10th to 17th position. This part is used to identify the exact vehicle and may contain information about engine and transmission.

VIS consist of 8 characters and have one important element - its first digit or the 10th digit from entire VIN. This character is required to encode the model year.

Model year encoding

Code	Year		Code	Year		Code	Year		Code	Year		Code	Year		Code	Year
A	1980		L	1990		Y	2000		A	2010		L	2020		Y	2030
B	1981		M	1991		1	2001		B	2011		M	2021		1	2031
C	1982		N	1992		2	2002		C	2012		N	2022		2	2032
D	1983		P	1993		3	2003		D	2013		P	2023		3	2033
E	1984		R	1994		4	2004		E	2014		R	2024		4	2034
F	1985		S	1995		5	2005		F	2015		S	2025		5	2035
G	1986		T	1996		6	2006		G	2016		T	2026		6	2036
H	1987		V	1997		7	2007		H	2017		V	2027		7	2037
J	1988		W	1998		8	2008		J	2018		W	2028		8	2038
K	1989		X	1999		9	2009		K	2019		X	2029		9	2039

 

In North America and China is required to use the 11th character as an identifier for the assembly plant where the vehicle was manufactured. Position 12-17 is called the serial number or production number which is unique to each vehicle. For small manufacturers with less than 500 vehicles built every year, digits 12-14 are used to assign the uniquely identifier of the manufacturer.