As a proud American, I hope that CZ will save and resurrect Colt to be a preeminent designer and manufacturer again. If any company can do it, it is CZ.
As a great admirer of CZ, I hope that Colt will be good for CZ, and won’t hurt, but if any company could hurt CZ its Colt.
I’m not worried about CZ though.
I mean this non-offensively, but the excerpted reply certainly highlights a legal/debate background -- covers all the bases.
I worry about CZ. Structurally, this appears -- just the CZ - Colt portion -- to be similar to Sig USA - Sig GMBH approach. However, on a practical level, their product offering largely rejects Sig's strategy of many unique offerings (CZ removing most of their options) as well as a focus on tangible quality (real or perceived -- for instance, Sig USA's India-made MIM parts as a case in point on the detriment but their highly finished stainless slides on the positive, while and CZ-UB sticking w/ Czech-made parts and minimally finished Czech slide internals while Colt increasing outsources manufacturing to who knows per MAC's video above with no real focus on quality/finishing details or function)... Even European SF forces are now moving away from Colt Canada carbines per reports to more modern weapon systems... Sig's biggest win was working the military bureaucracy/hiring enough retired generals/admirals to get both the next military sidearm and infantry rifle/SMG under their umbrella from Beretta and Colt and FN. CZ's apparent hire of Wesley Clark simply isn't enough to compete and those contracts won't be up again for decades anyways, AND CZ-USA effectively cancelled their highly popular MIL/LE program following the Colt merger, kneecapping themselves further. Unless CZ somehow manages to pull a Glock mass replacement/adoption w/ US LE, I simply don't see the inherent built-in market demand/growth that Sig has and will continue to experience for decades...
Bottom line from my perspective is that Colt remains in denial about their failings/shortcomings and continues to ride on the coattails of their brand's reputation as well as the US gov't's foreign aid packages that still give them a fair bit of reliable business. But without reform including new machinery and moving from CT, Colt's a dead man walking as far as I'm concerned.
I am worried about CZ b/c of the albatross of Colt as well as their financial PROJECTIONS being highly dependent on a yet unrealized mergers and acquisition strategy that at its heart relies on the American consumer being 2/3rds+ of their revenue stream and continuing to increase purchases of their offerings YTY similar to recent years post Biden's indoctrination. I simply don't see how the numbers actually add up. Danged lies and statistics, if you will...
To be clear, I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see enough "there" there unless say Smith and Wesson, FN, Springfield Arms, etc. peer competitor, goes bust and Colt - CZ manages to keep the bulk of the business.
Certainly, the Supreme Court's Bruen Decision is the best possible outcome preventing bans that would have largely torpedoed Colt - CZ's current growth strategy/product catalog (after the recent many product cancellations), but that decision alone doesn't have insane growth prospects -- at least as of yet... And even if the NFA is repealed, there's no guarantee Europe would allow export of "military-grade" weapons or that consumer-hesitant Colt would sell F/A weapons to civilians...
Bottom-line, we're in interesting times where everything's accelerated, so we'll probably know what's what sooner rather than later.
