VR is spot on with different versions
HOOVER and Vax are two common brands that are forever releasing different coloured vacuums for different suppliers and the price changes accordingly. Currently there's a red PU2111 on Amazon UK listed at £69-99 reduced from £89-99 with the 2100 watt motor. BHS are selling a dark navy blue Purepower reduced from £100 to £50 (item 9515231483)
However, Amazon UK have also listed a Purepower with a microfibre cleaning glove at a cost of £212! (see link below) which could be either fact or fiction.
Bagged vacuums aren't on their way out though - Hoover wouldn't have got the Pure Power (separated by a gap, there in the name) cylinder bagged vacuums, Capture and TeliosPlus models in if they thought they'd make a loss on those trio of cylinder vacs and the marketing dept must be pretty annoyed to find that the upright bagged market is already being sewn up by the likes of Miele, SEBO, Electrolux, Panasonic and then the supermarket brands. Hoover Europe would be mad not to develop a new bagged upright - but if the money is not there, they'll just keep papping and churning off Purepower uprights.
IF Hoover ever get around to developing a new bagged upright vacuum, I'd of course love to try it but if its just another colour variant of the Purepower, I'll pass.
Other brands are also dropping prices, or rather one should say it is the suppliers who are buying in those models at a fixed pricing structure before changing it accordingly to appeal to buyers. It could either be poor sales by the current price or a change in the current range's design by new features, cosmetic differences or a free offer such as Hoover's current supply of a year's supply of dust bags for some Purepower buyers at different franchises.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoover-Pure...r_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1363458979&sr=1-1