Do you really think it's possible for them to build based on the reservations? They opened reservations April 15th and were scheduled to start production June 15th (ended up the 22nd). They already knew what ratio they expected the models to sell and had parts ordered accordingly long before most reservations were made.
As for the dealer indicating that they will only be building cars that are part of the reservation system... to be blunt he's full of BS. He just wants you to put in a reservation so he will feel you are a more serious buyer.
The customer info is sent to the nearest dealer.. there is no asking if they want to take on the reservation or not. You submit your data, it goes to the concierge (outside 3rd party company), they send it to the dealer closest to you. A good dealer will contact you right away and put your request in with the first customer at the top and working down. A bad/lazy dealer could just ignore the information when it comes in or try to contact you once and if they don't reach your/get a response could do nothing further. I would recommend calling and following up regularly with your dealer.
Remember the fine print from the reservation site:
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Why would it not be possible to build based on reservations? All they would be doing is building cars in proportions to what they know they have demand for, and then telling dealers: Hey this is what we got, oh by the way, here is a list of people in your area that want X White SEs, X Gray Limiteds, etc.
And concierge on the phone last night told me they are not partnering me with a dealer yet, and my info will be provided to local dealers. On my first reservation (I have two to spread out risk of not getting information) has been contacted by me 3 times and they have not heard from Concierge yet about me. Second dealer has not called me about concierge yet either, but it was more recent. First dealer seemed to think it was similar to what the other dealer said, they thought Hyundai was going to roughly do the matchmaking and forward it to dealers to decide what they wanted to do.
I told the second dealer I already made a reservation elsewhere and told him I was trying to find what dealer was going to get them first to get my business, and that if I make a reservation it is just to hedge my bets and they are not my first pick. We discussed timeline and such. He also informed me that even if a person orders one through them and cancels he would not be in any bad shape since that means one more unattainable vehicle on his lot.
Of course Hyundai would say there is no guarantee that they are building your exact car. Otherwise it would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Imagine the scenario. You reserve one car, they build it, you change your mind. Someone pipes up "Bait and Switch".
I am not saying OMG this is exactly what is going on, but its what I have been told, and it explains how and why Hyundai would even bother letting you pick anything in a 'reservation'. I was told this was due to their lack of chips they can't make any more than roughly the reserved amount (more than likely they can't make more than the unknown amount of max reservations.)