precisely this. sales objectives. In my tenure at dealerships, vehicles were frequently pre-registered and sold at that time. A discount ranging from £2000 to £3000, inclusive of delivery and pre-delivery inspection mileage. Certain vehicles were also registered as loan cars or demonstrators. Why enrolll and incur the expense? Engaging in such actions (once more at that time) would yield the dealership a 'bonus' from the manufacturer, thus incurring a loss of £2-3k per vehicle could result in a £5k per vehicle 'bonus' for that month. Fail to achieve the targets, and all you receive is the profit margin from the sales.
In the instance of the Orion you referenced, it is possible for vehicles to arrive directly at the dealership from the factory with varying bumpers during transitional years; for instance, production of the mk4 Escort/Orion 'pre-facelift' models (known as the 88 spec bumper cars in XR3 and RS Turbo communities) might cease on a Wednesday, only for the '90 spec' models to commence on the following Thursday, indicating that the production year alone does not ensure consistency. We acquired a pristine, factory-ordered Escort GTi, which was delivered to the dealership for registration in August 1997. Vehicles from September were equipped with a high-level brake light situated in the rear window. Vehicles from August did not.