I was wondering if the thousand-strong estimate was a little bit small.
Plus there are non-direct buyers who will buy at physical shops, at shows, or from trusted retailers and sellers.
There was a second-hand A30 for sale at Hattons a month or two back. Don't have a screenshot to hand, but I'm almost sure it sold for more than IRM are selling them for.
Hard to gauge but I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that there are another thousand or more who will buy non-direct...
So, 15 x 071 variants at 504 units each, we buy two locos each and they're all sold!
Imagine if IRM sold via Hattons, Rails, Kernow etc. There'd be murder on here, as there wouldn't be enough availability for Irish buyers to even get one loco each. The market would quadruple overnight.