I spoke with one of the Vans guys at their EAA booth.
One of the interesting things he said is that all of the prepunched holes are punched to final size and their testing showed that they did not need deburring. The time saving here must be huge!
He mentioned the higher cost is due to things like the now standard options that would otherwise be a somewhat hidden cost to the builder. Wiring harness, etc. He thought the final price would be only slightly higher than an similar 7 and mentioned 85k.
He also said that they will be producing a tail dragger version and will be testing other engine options.
I just wet myself.