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Can we use the "historical present" to speak about the future of that historical present if it were written today?

Example (an article from the year 2004): Unfortunately, I don't have enough money now, but I will buy this car next year, which is the year 2005.

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  • I don't think your example is "historical present" anyway. But it's entirely a stylistic choice today whether you say Next year is 2024 OR Next year will be 2024.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 11:49
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    The non-past tense (which is often misleadingly referred to as the "present" tense) can certainly refer to the future, usually with some explicit time reference.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 20:45
  • It is not very idiomatic to use 'the year...' before a year in normal conversation, especially if it is not very far away in the past or future. I might say 'I wonder if we will still speak English in the year 3000'. If I say 'next year is twenty twenty-four' everybody knows I am talking about a year (because I said 'next year'). I don't need to say or write 'year' twice.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Jun 5, 2023 at 19:28

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It's not clear that that is "historical present". You use historical present when you use the present tense to create an air of "immediacy"

I can remember my final year as a student. It's 2004. I'm living in a cold flat in Coventry. I travel to college each day by bike. Every day I ride past the car showroom and see this Porsche. I don't have enough money to buy a car, but I hope I will get a job in industry and next year I will have enough money. But I nearly failed my second year exams, and I've heard that the final year exams are even harder.

This is the "historical present". Yes, you can use "will" to speak of the future of that time. You can also use past tense to speak of the past at that time, and even perfect.

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