I think that even 1200USD is too expensive for a bike that has no brand image.
If you look at who is buying a folding bike, there are people that do multi-modal commuting with most of the time a very short bike distance. These people want a very cheap bike, less than 500USD.
There are also people who are looking for a bike giving a social position that has a known strong brand image. These people buy a Brompton, they wont buy a Curl or any other bike without a brand image even if it offer the same service as a Brompton for less money.
There are then bike experts, those who need the extreme folded compactness of the Brompton buy a Brompton but make a lot of improvements on it. But its a very small part of the Brompton buyers.