How is it smart business to make "x" amount of a product when the market demand is "xxxxxx"?
Why do you assume that it is bad business to sell
every single unit you produce?
KT has let the public see prototypes early. In the information age (blogs, forums like this, etc) those prototypes get a LOT of press among enthusiasts. Some of those prototypes look really cool, but may end up being less cost-effective to sell than established products.
Imagine you're selling every unit you can produce of "widget X", and have a new design for a really cool "widget Y" in the R&D shop. "Widget Y" is put together by hand over in R&D, "Widget X" is running through an accelerated full-production process on three lines, with a 25% profit margin. (I'm pulling these numbers out of thin air, they're WAG's)
R&D says that they're almost ready to get "Widget Y" into mass production, and "Y" would sell at a 15% profit margin at best.
If you had to re-tool one of your three "widget X" lines to make "widget Y", and it took 2 weeks to get the line back up to production, which might then need to be adjusted at some point ...
(as in the PMR30 needing a replacement barrel after a few months of production - which cuts down that profit margin)
... Would you re-tool a line to make "Y" instead of running all-out on "X"? Forum commentators might figure into marketing more at KT than other manufacturers, but not as much as sales numbers do.
They're making a known profit on every unit they can produce, with some small percentage coming back for repair in the warranty department. Remember that KT sells to the distributors, and the distributors happily buy everything KT can produce at the rate KT sets.
Also remember that:
- satisfied customers tend to not be vocal, while an annoyed customer will make an effort to complain publicly
- the vast majority of KT sales are to budget-minded consumers that use the gun as a utility tool, not a showpiece
- many other customers are hobbyists and fans, and will often buy a "new product" just to have it
- another buyer group consists of tinkerers, for example the type that buys a sub2K just to add on $200 of parts to it
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If anything is being done wrong, it is letting the public see those prototypes early, and/or not providing a disclaimer on production projections.
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And I
really want an RMR30, too. I want an RFB in 7.62x39 or 5.56nato as well - taking some standard mag. I want a .22lr conversion for my P32.
If KelTec (and Twisted Industries) is ever going to do those things, they will first fit it around the existing production of their selling products, not by reducing production numbers on those products that sell already.
Perhaps the entire planet will reach saturation with P3at and PF9 pistols. I suspect that once everyone has bought a subcompact and pocket sized gun from KT, they might have to reduce production on those. Given that Ruger hasn't reached saturation with the 10/22, and Marlin/Remlin hasn't reached saturation with the Model 60/795/70 yet ...
... ... it might take a while.
