What the factories do depends on who is running the show. A few years back, the then CEO of Fiat-Chrysler made the decision to discontinue the Dodge Dakota (a vehicle in which Dodge had invested millions in revamping) because "no one wants a midsize truck". Chevrolet gleefully rolled out its midsize Colorado and racked up industry accolades for pickup truck of the year, along with the sales that Dodge lost. Toyota upsized the Tacoma to midsize and other manufacturers followed suit with similar vehicles. Zeiss developed a beautiful variable handgun scope, but the project was scrapped, and it never hit the market. The Zeiss rep. that was pushing for the scope was told there was no demand. When the Black Rifle Craze hit the shooting industry a few years ago, investor groups were buying up gun companies right and left. Think Savage, Marlin, T/C to a certain degree and others. Most of them stripped the lines down to a few best sellers, and concentrated on the black rifles and accessories for that segment. After they saturated the market, most sold off the stripped down companies. Of course this is all business but the hard truth is that if a company does not have someone on its board that understands and supports handgun hunting, there will be more of the same.