They've always been more Chevy than Porsche, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Like GM, their prices have risen a bit much for their market positioning, then. That's a potential long-term problem: when the discriminating market no longer considers your products, and you price yourself out of the lower-end market, what's left? Chevy found out.
IMO the SR-556 moves them considerably upmarket compared to their usual offerings, as they are now competing with LMT's and Colts instead of Oly Arms plinkers and stripped-down DPMS's.
That's true, with one enormous
caveat.
The discriminating (i.e. high-end) AR buyer specifies modules and parts, not a rifle as a unit. The AR's greatest virtue is its modular construction. Every rifle can be a custom rifle, and one needn't pay a gunsmith thousands of dollars, and wait six months, to get it.
Do you really think that "mall ninja" precludes a $2000 price tag? I don't. There are impulse buyers with cash out there (far fewer than a few years ago).
The SR-556 is a good entry into a big market. It would be wrong for Ruger not to be in this market, when everyone else is. However, is being yet another AR maker really Ruger's best future strategy?
Also, charging LMT/Colt prices does not automatically mean that you are competing on the same playing field. (See the Red Label.) Charging $30,000 for a Chevy didn't put the company on a par with BMW, either.
If you ask me, an M14 would have been a very good idea, especially if they published the specs. I'm sure they could make one for a competitive price, and it's not a commodity. That was Bill Ruger's genius with the single actions: take a proven gun and sell a rugged one for less than the competition.
As I said, time will tell.