Not sure, it was made in Germany then exported to South Africa - perhaps in South Africa it was common to register vehicles on the first date of the year?
It's what the DVLA do with imported vehicles. If it's had a previous life in another country and is then imported into the UK, then when completing the V5, they just put the 1st January of whatever year it was first registered in because they can't be bothered with the precise date. I've seen it happen before with others who've imported their buses.
