Late in the Crossfire's production run, there were quite a few cars sitting in Germany & elsewhere manufactured as 2007 models. Daimler-Chrysler petitioned the FEDS and wanted to know if 2007 cars sitting in surplus could be re-badged as 2008 models. No changes were planned between 2007 & 2008, so the FEDS said it was okay for a fee. So some cars are out there with manufacturing dates aligned with 2007 models but the cars have a 2008 VIN number.

And it's not uncommon for a new model car to be produced several months (4-6) in advance of when the new model 1st reaches the sales floor. Allows the pipeline to get filled up. Cars that undergo minor or no changes between model years will have a shorter time window between years. BMW here is SC just had model year change back in August. Plant produces SAVs with mostly minor changes between 2007 & 2008 models. Scheduled as a 3-wk outage.