Just for clarification, this is the non-combining 2010 Hunt for the Decepticon tooling that was later recolored by Takara into EZ Collection Payload, not the combining ROTF figure. The marketing blurb calls this "Powerful Long Haul" in katakana. As for why this figure would be released now, I have no clue.
I can only assume there's an article about RotB, but that doesn't explain why they chose Long Haul. It's not just a repack, either. Those are definitely new plastic colors. They made a new run for this.