Dealers and reps are needed to promote the product and help customers in their locations. There is no idiot customer questions, people are different and the factory has to count for the cost of customer support .
As more turbines are out there flying, the statistics of incidents goes up hence insurance goes up hence the price goes up (this is the american sue happy way[>:]). Most European mfg may not have to pay large sums for insurance, but they have higher VAT and lower sales hence their prices are still fairly high.