Reading Avwebs latest addition (avweb.com) I'm reading all about how
Cessna is developing (very hush hush) their "cirrus killer", new high
performance 4 place single. They are being very hush hush about the
whole thing, except for one point; the new design will be a high
wing....

Without debating the idea of high wing vs low wing as far as flying
advantages, the "perception" (right or wrong)of the high wing is a lower
& slower plane . When have you seen a jet fighter with a high wing??

To the public at large, a low wing plane is just a sexier, faster
"look" to it. I predict for that reason alone, the new "Cirrus Killer"
Cessna will fail, not because it won't be a superior airplane, it
probably will be, by the mere fact that it is designed to be, but
because it will not "look" sexy enough with the high wing... no matter
how well it performs, it will still have at its heart, the look of a
150/172.....

When I spend 350grand I want people to look at my plane and say ohhhh,
ahhhh, not just pilots either…. A high wing will design will not make me
feel like Maverick on "Top Gun"… (Tell me honestly you don't see almost
every Cirrus buyer playing "highway to the danger zone" mentally in his
head at some point while flying his new Cirrus…heh)

And if it doesnt have the BRS or GRS or equivelent, it will also fail.
Many pilots wives are much less nervous about flying with a BRS
installed (again, right or wrong, what is important in this level of the
market is perception... if it was all about money, they would all be
buying 20 year old 180's..)

--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams