Just one comment: heavier ≠ cheaper. You want the right type of carbon fiber in the right place.
Marketing has you believe that stiffer carbon is always better, but this is false. Even on a road bike you don’t want a frame built from just stiff carbon, because e. g. stiffer carbon fibers tend to be more susceptible to damage and you don’t want stiffness all around. Moreover, the amount of carbon fiber (i. e. roughly how heavy the frame is) is a trade-off between weight, compliance and robustness.
For gravel bikes, you should err more on the side of robustness. Moreover, you have to include different load patterns and reinforce the frame in the right places. If you used e. g. only stiff carbon fibers, you’d end up with a very uncomfortable frame.
True dat.
I swear I can remember when for the price of Shimano 105 Di2 you could buy a SRAM Red Mechanical groupset.
My second mountain bike, a $1,300ish hardtail, came with a mix of Deore XT and SLX components. My $2,500 fully from 10 years ago had a full XT drivetrain with the exception of the SLX crank. Nowadays, even much more expensive fullys are much less equipped.