My Car's Built!
 

My dealer called to let me know that my car was build a couple of days ago. The VIN is available.

I'm a little surprised since ED doesn't take place for another 5-6 weeks.

Now, about that center console . . .

Just back from ED on 9/29. When we did the factory tour, the trolley took us through what must have been thousands of MBs that had been built and were awaiting shipment. Some were under cover, some weren't. Some were VERY dusty, and clearly had been there a Looong time!

I didn't check the build date on ours, but I got the VIN 6 or more weeks before our delivery date, so I'd guess six weeks early is nothing unusual.

Ours has the new center console. We put 2,000 Km on the car while in Germany, and I never had any problem with it. The appearance is fine, AFAIC.