There's questions about the popularity of the kit with regards to the comparison of sales figures of the Trumpeter Essex class carriers. I'm also not too sure that Panda isn't suffering from an 'I told you so' complex when it comes to their Arleigh Burkes.
Both Trumpeter and Panda seem to have a tendency to release several variants of a ship, 3 Essex Class carriers, and 3 Burke Class DDGs (Burke, Churchill, Cole). Each time they release a new version, they re-tool or create add-on frets, and these cost money, so the production cost of the lot goes up. Their belief is that everyone who built an Essex will want a Franklin or Yorktown, but in truth, most of us are happy with a single $100 carrier on our shelves, so we pick the one we want most, and tend to ignore the others. As a result, sales are not 3x as good as they expected them to be, especially when you release one right after another. If Trumpeter were to wait a year or more before releasing each variant of the kit, I'd be more inclined to buy them.
With the exception of the small minority of ship modelers (and as a whole, we ship modelers are a small minority compared to aircraft and armor), most folks will not go out and buy an 27-C Essex class. WW2 subjects are always more popular than modern stuff, which is where Panda seems to have placed itself in the war with Trumpeter. I simply don't see Panda being able to compete with Trumpeter's quality, and with the Essex Class (WW2 versions) already out, I'm sure Panda has looked at the sales figures and traffic on the net about the Essexes. It's not alot...they're not being churned out like the Revell U-boats are...I think they're getting cold feet.
That being said, I hope I'm wrong, because I'd buy one. But one or two us, or even one hundred of us, complaining that we want the kit, isn't going to put it into production.
That's my take, from the inside looking out.
Jeff