Plain and simple here. No one saw the prototype Aero and said "Eww it looks like shit, I don't want one!" The prototype did the opposite, it built up hype for the car and got people on the preorder list.
Plus there are people who are going to drop $800-1600 with Aero instead of Schumacher because at this point, they don't have a freakin' clue if the CAT is going to be a worthless car or not because they don't have a clue what it looks like, so they'll just go with the Aero since it's a sure thing. In a few months when the CAT is released, they won't have the money for one.
People who buy high end cars like Schumachers are intelligent enough to look past the unfinished parts and see the real car. People that aren't that smart can't afford a car like Schumacher would make (unless the CAT is going to be WAY cheaper than I think it is...) If that weren't true, no one would have bought an Aero. The thing still looks unfinished, and costs 2 kidneys and a lung, but since everyone saw it from the beginning and they didn't hide it like it was some big secret, everyone knew it was a great car no matter how it looked, and the hype over it was huge.
Personally I LOVE to see a car, or anything, go from mind to paper to prototype to production to my hands. Lots of people in this hobby, any hobby, obsess over that stuff. They'll collect an outdated worthless rc10 just because it's the early version of their new B4. I had an X10 but still wanted a P8 just to have, and I collected pictures and info about it. I'd love to have pre-production photos of the Mi-3, before it was what I have in my hands. For no apparent reason, though, Schumacher doesn't want me to see it.
The Aero still looks like a proto, it's fully released, people are still hyping about it. That's because Aero knew what they were doing, and instead of hiding the Aero, it was in the public's eye the whole time, winning races while it was still a prototype made of a chunk of aluminum(!), building a ridiculously huge amount of hype, and every day on the thread on here people would be panicking about the release date. Granted, everyone talks about the CAT as well, but there's nothing compared to the hype of the Aero.
If Schumacher doesn't release pictures long before they release the car, and don't get the car, even if it's a prototype like Aero ran on a track out there winning races, no one (comparatively) is going to buy it because they'll have no idea how it's going to perform and will need time to analyze its potential.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but this is what I've seen. No one saw the prototype Aero and said "Eww it looks like shit, I don't want one!" Everyone clamored over the photos even though it was an ugly chunk of aluminum and white delrin bits.
Anyways... This brings up something I don't believe I've heard anything about. Any kind of a price released yet? Any guess?