From what I’ve seen, middle of the road 300 mm Voron V2.4 kits are around $1300. I believe the lowest I’ve seen was around $950, excluding printed parts (which the same company was selling separately for over $200). When I tried compiling a BOM with self-sourced high quality parts, the total reached over $1700 before I gave up on that idea. Where have you seen $600 kits? If these are still available, I may consider one. However, I’m hesitant to go with a kit that may have lower quality components. Personally, I’m really excited for this new Prusa and will probably pick up a kit once they are available. Unless, of course, Vorons are really that affordable.

A Voron V2.4 for cost of this kit ($950 / 1050 EUR)? Sure buddy.

This is not their first core XY and they redesigned the hotend with the PrusaXL and MK4. As far as I’ve seen, they are the only printer company using a strain gauge in the hotend for bed leveling, that they also use for detecting clogs while printing. Also, the new printer’s price is comparible to the similar model from Bambu with a metal frame and enclosed print bed (X1C). And, as you pointed out, they always maintained the same serviceability (I’ll add upgradability). Therefore, I definitely don’t agree that they are playing catch up.