I hadn't thought about that, but you make a good point. Very little about this makes sense.
Traditionally, the 7D series has come in under the 5D in price but over the 5D in features. I don't know how Canon packs all of this into a mirrorless body that would come in under the price of the R. But, if it is more than the R, I don't see 7D users buying it. We will know more for sure when the 90D or whatever they call it, comes out, but it just seems like Canon has really painted themselves into a corner on this.
To me that the easy way out is to release a 7DIII with an new sensor, touchscreen, f8 points, upgraded autofocus, 12 fps and call it good. Then wait five years for the market to sort out. As I've said before, I think once full frame hits about 36 mp, the perceived reach advantage of APS-C is no longer that significant in real world use.