I have lived the last 40 years with name changes and outsourcing (gone mad). What I get from it is that they do not want the liability for a down turned market. Name changing is done to avoid something (whether it is financial, pension, union(s), or customers), in my opinion, it makes the brand lesser. Even if it is the same people doing the same job, something has changed.
What concerns me more is that Tascam has not made a system level product design in a long time. They do not seem to want to invest in a shrinking market even though they made all their money by doing so year after year. It is a shame that they are not trying to be the leader in this industry any longer.
I bet I can get an "A Men" from the others that own these consoles. To us these are still state of the art.