Sounds like they are having a Government Motors moment, realizing they have to throw a bone to the patriots that buy the stuff.
I don’t think so. This is probably some long-term project they’ve spent a ton of money on since the time when they lost all their military contracts and realized they needed civilian sales. They probably figured they should finish the ‘New Python’ to try to get money out of the project.
They have since swung back to “we’ll try to exist on military contracts, screw the civilians” again, even though they do not have any contracts and are unlikely to get any in future.