I am thinking along the same lines as you. I mean sure it's good that the sear and disconnect are tooled steel parts. But I want to know what they are investing in the gun to bring it to market at that price. I see a little extra work done to contour the rear edge of the thumb safety, which is a nice touch. The barrel crown is cool I guess. But the absence of checkering or some type of treatment on the front strap really doesn't make sense considering they are texturing the top of the slide.
If Savage brought someone into their operation to really put some thought into the internals and the production process -- with maybe some hand fitting of crucial parts -- then that might somewhat satisfy me. But it will also surprise me.