$12K was for the designers' previous model. According to an article linked on his website, the business model failed as he couldn't secure enough start-up financing to go into large-scale production so that creature is no longer on offer.
The new incarnation is this ~$5000 kit. Apparently he has had decent success with selling kits for electro-racers and HPV stuff targeted at high-school competition type projects. The BugE builds on that business model. You don't have to source the electric drive parts for the vehicle from BugE, so that may be where a little cost savings kicked in to give friggerand's price claim.
I like the horse-pulled car picture. Reminds me of the mule-drawn back end of a Nissan truck we would see when I was down in Honduras last year. Unfortunately it was involved in a high-speed collision with a truck, so one of the Honduran AF guys helped put the mule down (with his M-16!). That made for an interesting time. Our installation liaison was trying to start up an unauthorized discharge investigation. The Honduran general didn't see the point.
