Week 40! That's super early for a gti.
Got to be one of the first right hand drive ones.
Really? It was manufactured in early October, 2020 and I dropped into my local dealer and swapped my precious GTI Mk 7.5 for it, just before Xmas.
Yes that's as early as I have seen.
My car came from initial dealer stock too, but was made 7 weeks later than yours.
Reading around the internet, VW have been changing lots of things in the build of Mk8's (of all variants). The later the car, the less likely it has some of its components swapped out for working ones.
Week 48 saw them suddenly swap the MIB unit out for a different one for example and I know that replacement door handles, e-call/gps units and more have all been replaced with different versions on newer cars and older ones fixed at dealerships.... but randomnly.