Though, as you say, interesting and possible, I cannot imagine the reality because I see no market at all.  I don't think I've ever paid more than about $200 for any machine, often far less, and I have some of the best in the world and in full working order.  So where can a newly-made machine find a place in my buying routine when it must surely cost far more?
I think too that this mythical new machine would have a great deal of difficulty standing credibly against the great names of the past such as Olympia, Royal, Alpina and so on.  I think that I would regard it as necessarily inferior (whether it proved to be so or not) because manufacturing has lost its credibility, being seen (by me at least) as the business of turning oil into plastic tat that can hardly do its job when new and that will be land-fill in a year or two.  How I would love to be proved wrong about that, however.

Uwe wrote:

Your premise that there might be a future for new mechanical models is - I assume - based on those quirks being eliminated. But what exactly are they?

Thanks for your considerations. I recognize that "long list of quirks and drawbacks" is a bit rude on all the collective effort needed to arrive at the current state of the art, found among the best models available. On the other hand, it would be, in my opinion, also unconsiderate, from a mechanical design point of view, to consider all this once ongoing effort as stale, to consider current designs perfect, and to "give up" on future improvements.

I imagine that the previous level of mass-production, popularity and high demand of typewriters is gone forever, and so this design/manufacture revival would not be possible along the same lines. It would have to be developed as an enthusiast, higher-price, craftsmanship-oriented, niche-market level, I think.

As for the quirks and drawbacks (I don't want to start a holy war in any way, just sharing some thoughts):
 - Lots of typewriters are sentive to table vibration and tend to skip if, for example, you use them over the lap. My Studio 44 would run the spacebar multiple times if I do so, due to some sort of resonance.
 - Ghosting/Shadowing avoidance depends on proper typing technique. Some modification on the escapement mechanism could make physically impossible for the carriage to move when the slug is touching the paper.
 - Machines are not modular. Unlike, for example, vintage race cars, where you can "tune" performance by replacing carburetor, gearbox, suspension components, etc. for more performant ones (whatever "performant" might mean for a given owner), unfortunately there is no such thing with typewriters - but why not try to make them that way?

Before I start to get too speculative, I offer these three examples of things that might be improved, and reinforce the idea that I wasn't meaning "revival" as a mass-production, wide-market oriented thing, but instead of an enthusiast, price-is-not-a-(big)-problem, craftsman-oriented thing.

 

heltonbiker wrote:

As for the quirks and drawbacks - Lots of typewriters are sentive to table vibration and tend to skip if, for example, you use them over the lap. My Studio 44 would run the spacebar multiple times if I do so, due to some sort of resonance.

Lots? That definitely is not true. Typically, if a typewriter "skips" it requires servicing (or it could also be caused by poor technique), but a vibration issue would mean that you're not using a proper typing surface - and why would anyone do that? I own very few machines that "skip", and even then it's only because I haven't got around to cleaning or adjusting them yet. The vast majority of my machines never exhibit this "quirk" that you describe, which I don't consder to be a quirk in the first place.

As for using a typewriter on your lap, they weren't designed for that. You can use some portables in such a manner providing they either have a bottom plate protecting its internal mechanisms, or a travel case base that can be typed from, but since typewriters should be used on a level surface, a lap is a less than ideal working surface.
 

heltonbiker wrote:

 - Ghosting/Shadowing avoidance depends on proper typing technique.

Shadow characters can also be a sign of a machine that requires service, or even an incorrectly installed ribbon, something that I have seen far too often. But is this really a quirk of the machine? Most machines that we buy and use require a proper technique for them to function correctly. Would you drive a car with your left foot resting on the brake pedal all the time and then call it a quirk of the car's design because it burns through brake pads and rotors at an alarming rate?

heltonbiker wrote:

 - Machines are not modular... unfortunately there is no such thing with typewriters - but why not try to make them that way? 

Actually, some machines were modular. There were several models of the Imperial standard that allowed an owner to swap major component groups, and many standards had quick detach carriages, which mean you could switch your 12" carriage for a 35" one in less than a minute. However, given those types of model were in the minority, I have to assume there wasn't a great demand for such a feature. And this leads me to wonder why anyone would even want a modular typewriter, other than perhaps to make cleaning and servicing it slightly easier? Equating the need to the performance tuning of race cars makes no sense to me at all.
 

I think a large part of being into typewriters (well for me anyway) is the fact that they are machines with a history, and there is a lot of fun to be had in searching out a certain kind of typwriter.
A brand new typewriter, made to a very high standard would be a nice thing to have, but I'm not sure it would have the appeal that a vintage machine has, and it would likely be too expensive for most of us to own.
As typewriters were made to last a lifetime, it's relatively easy to find a machine that is in good working order and will last us, used with care, for another lifetime.
There are still so many typewriters emerging from sheds, lofts, garages and well-tended desks of original owners, and collectors and second-hand dealers, that I can't imagine that there'd be a high enough demand for a new-built typewriter any time soon.
I don't fancy the idea of a typewriter that behaves like a computer in typing action - they are different machines and you can't really make one behave like the other.
 

Thanks, folks, for all your opinions.

One answer that striked something in me was the one saying there was no HURRY to invest on the brand-new typewriter market (by invest I think he meant either to buy or to manufacture them).

And that made me realize what others have been saying: the future demand for typewriters, as a niche thing, is by definition small, and most probably the rate of old but good machines being brought out of the barns and ravines and sunken ships could be more than enough (judging by the affordable prices) to supply this demand almost indefinitely, given how much time they can keep working without deteriorating.

We have to thank the fact that these machines have got a lot of time before the computer got popular, so that lots had to be manufacture to supply a (comercial, industrial) demand that would be much better served by computers if they existed. And now that they exist, the more domestic and personal demands, much smaller in scale, can be supplied worldwide by the relatively high amount of otherwise obsolete machines. It's a great century to live in! (I mean it somewhat sarcastically).

It's been a great talk, thanks for your ideas so far!