Comment

Comment by Parrhesia on September 21, 2019 at 10:11am

Colt Firearms will be ending its production and sales of its AR-15 rifles due to lack of public demand amid excess market capacity.

Second paragraph:

Colt released a statement on Thursday to clarify the decision, which was made because the company simply isn’t selling enough of the rifles in the civilian marketplace to continue devoting the resources into it — a pattern that may be attributed to Colt rifles’ $1,000+ price tag and a market supplied with lower priced competitors.

Nobody wants to pay a grand for a Colt AR-15 when you can get one from Palmetto State, DPMS, Anderson Manufacturing, and S&W for sub $500 depending on features, and all just as reliable and often more accurate.

Third paragraph:

Colt President and CEO Dennis Veilleux said, “The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity. Given this level of manufacturing capacity, we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future.”

The market is flooded with low-cost alternatives that Colt can’t compete with so they are pulling out of the game.

Fifth Paragraph:

“On the other hand, our warfighters and law enforcement personnel continue to demand Colt rifles and we are fortunate enough to have been awarded significant military and law enforcement contracts. Currently, these high-volume contracts are absorbing all of Colt’s manufacturing capacity for rifles,” he said.

Rather than lose money on the civilian market, they are putting all their resources into military contracts.

Sixth paragraph:

Veilleux doesn’t want customers to think the decision has any bearing on the company’s support of civilian customers or the Second Amendment.

Colt isn’t doing this for political reasons, just the money.