An idea that has absolutely no pay off.
BTW, did I mention how FUGLY they are?
Do people honestly think George Lucas puts any thought into continuity with the EU when he writes this stuff? He doesn't even maintain continuity between movies ffs!
The extent of his thinking is "hmmm what made the originals popular? Well people liked the ships. Yeah let's just copy that"
Also I bet that EU thing only came up afterwards to explain George's illogical decision, but I could be wrong.