Normally I think dealers are allocated a certain number of build slots for the various cars.
My Cooper D was ordered in September for a March 08 delivery as they had no more slots left for this year (though i could have gone elsewhere and got one quicker)
I was told they had been allocated 6 Cooper D's for the first part of next year, mine was now one of those
He showed me their ordering system and all the build allocations they had for the end of the year, lots of One's and Cooper's and a few S's.
They were all allocated build slots/dates. The nearest ones were already specced to be used as demo/showroom cars but obviously up to a certain point the spec could be changed to a customers specification instead.
I also discovered their ordering system is virtually the same as I use at work
