Tamiya Neo Shot Cancelled

[hanafuda]

Just found this:

*Announcement about the 1/10 R/C Neo Shot (Item 58306)*
It is with great regret that due to unforeseen circumstances, production and the subsequent release of the Neo Shot buggy has been cancelled. Tamiya would like to thank everyone for inquiries received regarding this product and sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused by its cancellation."

Anyone know why?

[SteveK]

My guess would be cost of tooling versus what their target audiance would be. I don't think they were intending to make a vehicle to compete with Losi/ Yokomo/ Schumacher for the racing market, and it might have been too expensive to be marketed at bashers like the Baja Champ and Baja King.

It's a shame because it looked like a good buggy, but if the TL01B-chassis cars were just under $100, the New Shot would have been over $150, and that's probably with bushings and other cost-cutters.

Maybe they decided to build a shaft-drive car based on the TB01? Probably not likely, but we can always hope. That's the direction I thought they should have gone in the first place, instead of the TA04 chassis.