I happened to have visited the Martin Guitar plant in Nazareth, Penn last October and got to take the tour. Our guide showed us all the steps that go into manufacturing the fine instruments made there. He told us about these new models and showed us several examples at the end of the tour.

While I was playing one, the guide explained that these are supposed to appeal to the younger, less experienced musician. They are less expensive and come in many "cool" colors and designs. Apparently there is a big market in ugly, plastic, crappy sounding guitars.