@matttherat30; around 12 months does seem to be the current lead time for performance Golfs - this is from a forum member on golfgtiforum.co.uk who until recently was a manager at a large VW dealership and now works for a vehicle leasing company, so they probably have fairly accurate and reliable, up to date information on lead times.
I think a VW dealership can get an order number once the factory has accepted the order, so if your order was accepted by VW a month ago (around Christmas time), with a lead time of 12 months, a Christmas 2022 delivery sounds about right. IMHO a salesperson giving an indicative June 2022 delivery date for an order placed with the dealership in November 2021 is being a little optimistic to say the least in the current climate of semiconductor supply uncertainties and Covid impacts, which your salesperson would have been well aware of as both of these issues have been with us for many months now.
Ongoing semiconductor supply shortages and Covid will mean it’s really difficult for VW and other vehicle manufacturers to plan and be specific about when customers cars will be built. VW‘s parts and component suppliers are likely to be in a similar uncertain position as many parts / components they manufacture will need semiconductors - e.g. infotainment units, ECU’s, DSG transmissions, digital instrument displays…….the list goes on. Additionally, the Omicron variant of Covid will be impacting the workforces of VW and their suppliers, so even if semiconductor supplies were back to normal, there’s a good chance that vehicle production would be running at less than normal capacity due to a proportion of the workforce having to self isolate due to Covid.
I think the semiconductor situation impacting car production is a consequence of the ‘just in time’ business model used by pretty much all car manufacturers. The first wave of Covid meant that when car manufacturers were not building cars during lockdown, they would have stopped ordering parts / components from their suppliers almost overnight. Many of those suppliers would have sought alternative, better deals with other customers / other industries, and semiconductors originally intended for motor manufacturers went to industries such as electrical goods manufacturers (many electrical goods such as phones, tablets, laptops, TV’s etc. were in high demand during lockdown). The motor industry are now likely to be at the back of the queue for semiconductor supplies and how long this situation will persist is anyone‘s guess.
I read on one of the Seat forums that forum members who have cars on order have been having difficulty getting information on the progress of their orders, so it’s probably the same across all VAG brands (VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat). I dare say outside VAG most other manufacturers will struggle to give accurate, reliable information on build dates / delivery dates to customers on their specific car orders.