I agree Owen, I'm into marketing, and have a good feel for how people think. There will be a segment of die hard Xray customers, but my guess is that it's a small segment in a saturated market. Xray leans on the high end market and up against Tamiya. That is their main competitor. If they are going to pursue that high end market then they need to add those better perceived design features, high quality parts and charge what they do. However I do understand Xrays strategy, even if I don't agree. Just make them as options.
I think AE has hit the main market with their TC6. It's cheaper, with some nice new features that give it that quality and value feel. If they would have gone to camber links on the bulk heads and hinge pin blocks like the Tamiya, they would have won out all the way from mid to high range market, but maybe they still have done that with their Xray 008 knockoff. I'm sure they wanted to keep costs down, and give customers that Xray on a budget. lol I left the AE camp long ago, never to return. I hated that fact they tried to tell their customers what's best for them. Even though I understood it may be from a cost production stand point, in the end I resented them for it. A refusal to listen and after time I gave up. A lack of logical design changes that help us, their customers.
It was about that time, where I saw Xray make some leaps over the competition. Quality always was there, but they made things easier to work on and built a strong car. With two piece bulk heads, better covered diff design, then some light cvd axles, upper deck flex options, quick ackerman adjustment I was in the Xray camp. I'm willing to over the price when I got the designs that made sense to me. Xray has rode that quality horse for a while. At what point do you have to say, ok we going to bite that bullet and add what our competitors already put in their kit. lol I have to say the AE car is looking good for much cheaper and maybe I won't have to think about bleeding shocks. lol Just a thought. I guess we will see what Xray's decided soon enough.
Until then.