Yes...I'm saying that's the mistake. They wouldn't lose any fame or mystique in offering this now 57 year old platform for less money. And I'm not talking "the poors" less money. I'm talking like $500 less than current, which is still a sh*t load of money for what is still only a PCC. Less profit per unit, but it would most certainly move more units.
You really don't understand branding, do you? (it's stupid, but thats a whole other story) Whether its guns, or cars, or other shit, SOME items that have strong brand power a
different set of rules come into play. The sellers of these brands heavily curate the image and the product in terms of marketing space and luxury appeal and all that kidn of
shit. You forget that half of HK buyers would be INSTANTLY SUSPICIOUS of any price reduction on an existing product, based on the price alone. The first question would be "ok what
did they cheap out on to drop the price" not "oh boy its cool were getting a break"
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
A steady state of buyers actually gets them advantages over the long term,
too. (if you sell too many durable goods then people start flipping them everywhere, for profit.... )
They would just be screwing themselves.
When those DOJ guns went, those were HK fanbois buying them. There were no new MP5 clones back then from HK or anyone
else. (mabe some SW5 garbage) IF they were new they would have bought them all for $2800 ea or something. A used HK94 at $2100 is not a flint gun, flints werent buying the things. It was the same group of people that would pay $2400-2800 for it. I guarantee it.
The people that sell perceived high lux/specialtiy brands like that arent idiots. If they thought they could make more money doing it your way, they would. They don't because they actually know better- they know that discounting the product actually sullies the brand. High prices also curb stomp the f*** out of flipping, because the original buyer has to pay a lot and the pool of downstream buyers is small.
If I am making an MP5 for $2800 and I drop it to 2300 bucks MSRP do you have any idea what is going to happen?
-All the fanbois (the salivators willing to pay $2800 who bought one or more guns at that price) are going to get irrationally mad at you as a company, they're going to feel betrayed, ripped off, even if the new pricing has nothing to do with them.
SUCH BETRAY
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
-The fanbois that didnt buy the product but were interested in it are like "Why did the price drop so much, they making it in china?" etc, ad nauseam.
Nobody will ever believe you if you say "oh, we just wanted to offer you a better deal". That doesnt wash, every possibility is a negative outcome in terms of reputation.
If HK wanted to make a more affordable carbine "making the MP5 or a roller lock cheaper" is literally the dumbest option for them marketing wise. That's basically dick-self-punching. The best way for them to tap into that market is to make another entire product line independent of the mp5 so that whatever you do with that line, doesn't sully the other one. (Like as a cross, they could make an UMP clone in 9mm for $1500 and theyd sell that all day long and nobody would bitch about the price nor would it piss off fanbois).
Look at the inverse situation, BTW. FN used to sell thier shit for cheap. Then one morniing they woke up and they were like "This is a weird gun. We have branding, and we're already not in the segment value buyers are shopping in. So lets add "cachet" or whatever. Then the FS2000 went from a $1300 gun to an $1800 gun. And they still sold like wildfire in the
grand scheme of things to the point of there being shortages. Same thing with the SCAR. The SCAR is kind of an overrated POS, but even that went up in price since its introduction in the market. Because FN figured out that they could do it and get away with it.
![[mg]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/036.gif "Machine Gun [mg]")
