Nope, Its the VIN all right. Many cars build for the US also have a different VIN compared to Euro spec cars. Must have something to do with regulation or homologation, not sure why.
VIN.JPG
sorry, poor quality but I am in Amsterdam for the week and the bike is still at home in Germany so I had to cut-paste-enlarge.
The VIN in the frame shows the AB22 from the bottom.