What, are they kidding? Cessna has confirmed that they intend to complete the purchase of Columbia Aircraft out of bankruptcy, including warranty service for previously sold aircraft. That is a big win for Columbia owners who otherwise would have been orphaned; a hard pill to swallow after buying a plane that in most configurations would run over half a million dollars. And Cessna got the company for a bargain: $26.9 million dollars.
However, in a move that only a behemoth like Cessna could make, they've decided to relaunch these composite, low-wing aircraft as the Cessna 350 and the Cessna 400. Now I can understand the desire to roll these into your company name (and abandon the old name) but perhaps at the same time they should have put some more thought into the product naming. All of Cessna's existing single engine aircraft (including the turbine-powered Caravan) are know by their product numbers which lie in the 100 and 200 range. Names like Cessna 172, 180, 206, 210 are the stuff of legend.
The numbers in the 300 and 400 range up until recently were exclusively used by their twin engine propeller aircraft. The 310 and 404 come to mind immediately. However, now buyers and other aviators will need to keep in mind these exceptions when bandying and reading about Cessna aircraft.
Seems to me they should have chosen to keep both (much like Toyota markets cars under the Scion and Lexxus banners) leaving them as Columbia 350 and Columbia 400 or they should have renamed the company to Cessna and moved the model numbers into the normal Cessna ranges.
One wonders if they intend to drive innovation into this line as well (pressurization, turbine engines, 6 seats?) or just limp it along, changing the avionics as the market moves forward?
