When you say "attempt", does that mean you've seen flow data that indicates they did not succeed?
I mean we haven't seen any data or claims from FRAM that indicate that it flows even as well as its predecessor, let alone better. Simply that it flows better than OEM requirements (their statement). Cellulose blend media is inherently inferior in both of those metrics (holding capacity and flow) over a full synthetic media, particularly if we are talking about medias of the same efficiency. As you are aware, I've posted supported data from both Donaldson and Cummins Filtration on this subject multiple times in the past, it isn't up for debate. So, as I said, they've attempted to overcome these shortcomings of the blend media by adding more of it, to increase flow, and by putting a synthetic "topper" on it to improve holding capacity. I'm quite sure both of those measures are sufficient to get the product to where they wanted it to be performance-wise, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a compromise over the old design.
The new design is a cheapening of the product, that's why the made the change. FRAM has always been able to produce a blend media and we've had blend media "premium" filters on the market forever, like the PureONE and Mobil 1 filter. The microglass, nanofibre...etc filters were introduced as yet another tier, a step up from these filters, given the superior characteristics of that type of media. We have seen that not only with passenger car filters, but with heavy duty ones, which is where this technology really first appeared in volume. Companies that were already producing blend media, combo filters and the like spent considerable sums on developing and evolving synthetic medias that were better, in every metric. That's how we ended up with the Stratapore, ELF...etc. FRAM went that route with the Ultra, but has now taken a step back.
As I said in the previous thread, that in no way makes it a bad filter and it still offers the same impressive efficiency. But the filter has been cheapened and is no longer a "top tier" offering like it once was. In terms of construction, it's now far more similar to the PureONE and Mobil 1 offerings, but with slightly better efficiency. It's not the bargain alternative to the EaO and other synthetic media filters that it was originally, and in many cases, offered the same suite of benefits but was even more efficient (it was more efficient than the Royal Purple filter for example, both being synthetic media filters).