Not a chance in a million that Amex will give away *A Gold or E-50 or E-anything.

AC has invested hugely at shaving away the hoardes of Elites, it has sacrificed enormous goodwill and loyalty from many flyers. No way would they give it back. Heck on a $399 card (subject to confirmation) they are only willing to throw in 4 MLL passes, no way would AC give up any kind of status.

I actually would expect a mid-tier premium AP card be added by Amex, around the $299 price mark with average added benefits, in line with last the Air Miles card. At the minute Amex has a huge gulf between its Gold ($120 card) and Platinum ($499 card). Anything above $499 would be delving into the territory of their in house Platinum product which I believe they favour over cobranded products.

Just guessing.