For those that don't get Jason's "telegraph" newsletter the update from last week when he was in China is that the first shipment of cars (no styles or road names mentioned) would be leaving the factory this week. He felt that arrival on N.A. shores would be a month or so.
He had a picture of the Beano coaches after printing and from what I saw they looked good. I can't link to the document as it's not posted, it's e-mailed.
Just an update.