I think you're right, luftfluss.
They're consciously marketing it as a flagship. With that title needs to follow ambitious performance, and as a consequence ambitious pricing. In a sense, it's a psychological thing. If you price it too cheaply, then people will not take it seriously, and will not look at it as a flagship/premium model.
It sounds odd, but it's true: sometimes when you raise the price of a product, it's easier to sell it than when it's cheap. Psychology plays a big role.
With that said, I'm frankly amazed at how well they're keeping this thing under wraps - especially compared to the competition, who face detailed leaks all the time. Apart from a few selectively chosen details, we know almost nothing about this camera, which makes me suspect that they may have something groundbreaking up their sleeves that they want to hide from their competitors.
I decided long ago that I was going to pre-order/buy the K-new, and after spending a bit of time considering it against the K-1, I've fallen back on my initial decision to buy the K-new. It's just the wait that is getting to me, and making me impatient. I need to relax.