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G0ULI Every gram counts both for fixed wing and rotary (or cars for that matter). It all boils down to economics and market forces. Weight costs fuel consumption. The less the aircraft weighs the more freight it can carry (self loading or not) given a specific engine. In effect the fuel cost per unit of freight is reduces. Almost the same goes for the crew: The more freight any aircraft can take, the cheaper the wages for the crew get per unit of freight.
All the bean counters care about is the cost per unit of freight. They constitute "the market", meaning that market forces will drive the manufacturers to produce lighter and lighter aircraft. If you want to get ahead in the market, the trick is to make it as light as possible both by creative use of materials and design, and by minimizing safety margins/shed excess weight. Those that are the boldest pushing this while managing to make people believe it's still safe, will be the market winner. It's going on everywhere you look in society today.
I know way to little about this particular situation and to which degree this philosophy are used with the different aircraft manufacturers, but ever since I read in this thread that the 225 can carry more passengers while being lighter than it's competitors this immediately popped up on my radar. It might be that they have simply pushed it too far.