Americans have a certain nationalistic myopia when it comes to general aviation airplanes. Proud as we are about being first in powered controllable flight, we forget that the Europeans pioneered flying in hot air balloons in 1783. This fervor spills into our buying habits such that European companies have done poorly in marketing GA airplanes to U.S. buyers.
A notable exception is the aerobatic market, where the highly regarded Extra 200 and 300 from Germany have made inroads in the U.S. With that success behind him, no surprise that Walter Extra would turn his companys attention to building a high-performance cabin-class single.