dmat, mr_tony has already touched upon this but I would imagine the person who told you that the Aero 8 was a loss maker, was basing that opinion on how rapidly the company would be able to recoup their R&D costs.
If you look at the Aero 8 logically, there have been three distinct phases of investment: the initial car (S1), US homologation (S2) and the development of the automatic gearbox (S4/Aeromax). Of course there has been constant investment in the car but imho on a much smaller level than at these 3 key stages.
Again imho, the Aero 8 as a loss maker was (is?) a story told by a few individuals who had an axe to grind and used their version of events to support it.
