Maybe they're found a niche? A tender is wrought with compromise, why not go all the way(at least for that market) and combine a life raft as well?

One Pudgy in my harbor looks like a young families row boat for getting out on the water with two small kids. I've seen it rowed extensively. It's not a bad row considering it's an under 8' dink,(- 8' will fit on many decks). Under 8' will never be a great rowboat, but it looked as good as the length can deliver, at least with one on board. If you added some real oars(if you could) it would perform much better.

Add two people or more and it's not a good rowboat at all(see the photo with the oars nearly vertical) but much better than a similar sized inflatable and load. But a small outboard can make it a passable tender with a safe load(almost 600 lbs, impressive in the length.

With a base of 2600 or so, that's a reasonable price today, and there's a ton of options both for a small rec boat and or survival boat.

As a lifeboat, it's probably not great compared to larger life rafts, but they're all about compromise-size-cost, just like tenders.

Anyone seen the Pudgy in use?

http://www.portlandpudgy.com/Portland%20Pudgy%20price%20list.htm