Thats really the beauty about folding bikes. With a marketshare of 0.678 % they tend to be a niche product. The companies have all their own little corner of that niche carved out, and usually tend to be much less full of corporate BS....
They do have the opportunity to listen to their customers and they do have the opportunity to react to their wishes, if they just listen and put some effort into it.
They need to understand how valuable their respective fan clubs on the Internet are. If they do business as usual, or want to copy the Treks or Specialized of this world they ultimately will fail after a long struggle of mediocracy.

Does it really make a difference where a bikeframe is built, and the bike is assembled from parts which come from far away? Maybe for some it does, and thats quite ok. Pay a few extra bucks and be happy. I am not talking thousands or even hundreds, the real cost difference between assembling a bike in GB or Taiwain or China is how much ? Lets pretend it takes one hour to built a bike ... what is the difference in salary for ONE HOUR ...

One major price difference is coming from the amount of stuff you buy. Shimano and Co give very different prices to small medium or large orderes. Thats one point where Dahon has a huge advantage they pay less for stuff they hang onto their bikes... considerable less as they built 10 times as much as Brompton and maybe 100 times as much as Bike Friday ... just as examples.

Most people think that the frame is the most expensive part on the bike. Take note: it isnt .... if you have a IGH that one is usually very much more than the frame and the fork for example...

just 2 cents...

and yes ... to the question above .. I was indeed very impressed with the Terns....
small positive with the LinkD7 as it has an off the shelf handlebarstem and only slighty larger clamp.
the other " real" Terns felt much better.
majorly impressed with the Verge/ Eclipese models
Castro felt solid as well ( as expected )
Joe never had a problem with similar designs anyhow, acyulaly have to admit I didnt ride this model
....

now "trying out" for stiffness while riding down the road is a somewhat wild guess and hardly provable if you really want to dissaprove. In ather words not really a good measure. Independent lab tests are much better as they take the emotions out of the equaesion....
And its difficult to compare if you not have different brands right there together.
The different tire pressure can throw one off in a heartbeat for example.
but no excuses : Yes, I was suitable impressed Mulleady