so just see this on a forum.
(talking about Diner) - Don't worry, it's not retiring this year, it's marked for December 2021, but is likely to be extended beyond that due to COVID-19.
(talking about bell boeing) - re release (pushed back from December due to COVID-19). Lego are releasing it then with the gearing modification and will remove the Boeing logo from the box, keeping just Bell.
Lego have had to lay off 25% of their design team and 15% of senior factory staff which limits capacity for new designs and production. Re-releasing popular retired sets is the new strategy for the next 3-4 years while the World recovers from COVID-19. As far as I'm aware, the following themes are have some immunity from imminent re-release:
City
Friends
Ninjago (except 70618 Destiny's Bounty which resumes production in July 2021)
Star Wars (except UCS R2-D2 in new black AFOL "Master Builder Series" box)
Architecture (except Buckingham Palace to complement London Skyline and Trafalgar Square)
Speed Champions twin packs (the retired 6-stud cars will now become 8-stud starting next Easter, Bugatti being the first)
Harry Potter (all sets due to retire this year have been extended for another year, 2 years for Hogwarts Express)
This week marks the 2,000,000th 10220 VW T1 Camper left the production line, apparently over 1,500,000 are in the hands of buyers who bought multiples, go figure.
Even though it's 3 years behind schedule, the previously unknown "Lego Again" project will be live around Xmas 2021. This promises to supply any retired set that Lego has produced in the past, put the pieces in a plain box and have printed artwork on one side only to make production easier. There will be a 4-6 week wait for the requested set and the RRP will be today's equivalent. The top 10 sellers in this project will then be re-released in their former glory with the same artwork as before. The re-release of the Saturn V has shocked a lot of people (even me!), but it's only the start of what is to come. Senior Lego management state that over 75% of popular sets end up in the hands of greedy resellers, leaving Joe Public without the set they want, unless they pay over the odds for one on eBay - this is why Lego have finally decided to eliminate the reseller market as it's more of a threat to their brand than Chinese knock-offs.
Lego have now asked John Lewis to reduce their maximum order limit on popular sets from 5 to 2. Smyths, Amazon and The Hut Group will also be amending their limits.
The final nail in the resellers' coffin will be eBay introducing "gating" (Amazon has it) which means that you have to be an authorised Lego retailer before you can sell multiples of the same set as new, even if days or weeks apart. It's all part of the plan to expand there retailer network and wipe out resellers.
think the blokes nuts myself, he lost me at 2 million VW's...