Originally Posted by terry.sc

A body manufacturers point of view.

There are many more bodies available for this class, most of them are from HPI. Here in the UK we run our own body list that has 30 bodies listed including the HPI 911 and Lamborghini bodies. Unfortunately they are designed as scale bodies so fairly useless on the track compared to the Sophia even though they look better.

Now look at the class from the body manufacturers point of view. The vast majority of WGT racers run on carpet, using spec tyres. This means almost everyone wants the same aerodynamic balance. Now if you produce a body that works well it will work well almost everywhere, so almost everyone would want to use it, then you are on to a profitable product.

Dale Epp got it right first time with the Sophia, so much that it's used just about everywhere, especially outside the US where it is the only body that's readily available. So if Protoform have already got the WGT body market sewn up, why should they spend money developing a new body that will just take sales from the Sophia as Protoform won't sell many extra bodies.
They would sell a few of the new bodies at first, as people try them out or people think they need both types for different tracks, but after that initial rush Protoform will end up selling exactly the same number of bodies as people replace worn ones, just in two different styles instead of one. WorldGT isn't big enough as a class for Protoform to recover the development costs in that one early rush of bodies, so no point Dale spending his time creating a new WGT shell when he could be making new touring car bodies that will sell in much greater numbers. The only way you would get Protoform to make a new body is if another manufacturer came in and created a body that out performed the Sophia, so taking sales away from Protoform.

Parma and Mcallister have created shells, they should have already created the best bodies they can but they still can't perform as well as the Sophia. Considering they have much lower sales compared to the Sophia is it worth their time and money creating another body that won't increase their sales, just because a small number of people might want it. Remember, they might have been started by enthusiasts but these days these are all businesses so there isn't any point in spending their time on something that isn't going to make them any more money when they can spend their time

If I was a body manufacturer WGT isn't a class I would concentrate on. While I could create a GT/ALMS body it would be aimed first at touring car chassis with little consideration for handling in WGT as that would sell considerably more then if WGT racers wanted to use them they could, but I wouldn't expect then to beat the Sophia.