On a gut level, I totally agree. However... there are some issues with that. For better or worse, Kala is a known name. A lot of players, particularly new players, equate Kala with quality, since their first "real" instrument was likely a Kala. This establishes some brand recognition and (I suspect the hope is) brand loyalty. For the (relatively) small percentage of players, like the folks here, who really do get deep into the higher end stuff, we know that there is a lot more to "quality"...
If they came up with a new name, whatever that might be, they would be starting from nearly square one with that brand name. Their hope, presumably, was that the "Elite" would be enough of a designator to make that work. But given their target audience, I think you are right, they should have gone with a completely separate name.
Had they started with high-end bespoke instruments and worked their way down to the entry level stuff, it might be different, but we can look to other examples here. Look at the K brands that have done this. KoAloha, while it has blurred the line a bit, still make a distinction between the "regular" KoAloha line and the Opio line, even though the Opio instruments are really great in their own right. Kanile'a has a near complete re-brand for their lower end, Islander. And Ko'olau does the same with Pono.
Sorry, I have wandered way off topic of the original post, but I think about this sort of thing a lot. It saddens me that the people who are never going to spend that kind of money on a ukulele think that Kala Elites are great, but a lot of the folks who could (and would) spend that kind of money often dismiss them since they say "Kala." The examples I have tried have all impressed me.
As for this particular example, that serial number is super sketch. I would try to get in touch with Kala before I would even think of buying this one.