This may be what the Boa has. And I wonder if they weren't preparing the boa to be in game as the 8 is not available but on the boa.
So, Boa to get close to the anaconda with the first permanent 8A FSD, and the Panther clipper to out do the Type-9/cutter. Of course they could also add the imperial Trader(to imps). Assuming that is not the cutter. And griffin as a shorter ranged alternative to the panther clipper until you get the panther clipper.
Possibly Puma Clipper, Boa, Griffin as Alliance rank ships. Then the hard one is if you grind max rank in all 3 powers you get access to the Panther Clipper. Max rank. Not rank 12 for the big ships. Rank 14. And maybe you have to have elite in trade or something. Which wouldn't be hard. Maybe triple elite to be really picky. Then you can get a 1586 ton cargo panther clipper. It could be the final shop from the Pilot federation for gaining rank from all powers and triple elite. The only thing bigger would be carriers and mega ships.
To make the panther clipper and bigger ships more interesting(slf capable ships in general) CQC ranks could be used to unlock customization and custom rank unlocked SLF/Shuttles. some could be fighters, some could be transport ships like the
Worm and other
older shuttle craft. As a way to allow two fighters at once you could allow one pure combat SLF and one shuttle craft out at once with NPC's. The shuttle craft could be useful if it can pick up cargo and has a cargo bay for gathering mats in combat so you have an alternative to limpets. This could allow more versatility whole allowing more damage, but with different specialized craft. Maybe with more interesting customization options. This would also help get people to play CQC as it would get people to grind to unlock customization options inside slf and get them good at combat etc for those interested. The CQC already has customization to start. The shuttles would be far less manoeuvrable and far more vulnerable to damage. But could open up more gameplay mechanics/options as time goes on.
The Transporter has an interesting description of being able to land on asteroids. I wonder what gameplay mechanics that could help with. Maybe non limpet based prospector or possibly mini miner. Maybe something completely new. Might help with combat if they ever make that more dangerous in general. Like more than just an initial instance of pirates.
If shuttles don't come out of the SLF bay it could have a different bay and one craft or something and have the crew member actually flying it. If it blows up so does that crew member. This would prepaid temp pilots or cheap harmless pilots very convenient to keep on hand. Maybe you could allow 2 shuttles and One SLF. Then you could also do 2 fighters and one SLF if you used a Player with multi crew for much better combat abilities. Shuttles like the worm could be the cheap npc version of two slf. The orbital shuttle could also be an option as it can be a hospital and other ship if needed. Useful for new rescue mission types and getting people out of stations/megaships etc.
Worm=combat roles/light cargo
Transporter= heavy cargo/passenger transfer/Atmospheric passenger landings(maybe for people who don't own the expansion and for getting items.)
Orbital shuttle= General/Rescue/specialized mission ship.
All of this unlocked with CQC and customizable shuttle/SLF. The customization could be done in the livery screen. It could be simplified, predefined, non engineerable options you buy in game somehow. But it's combat/utility for SLF/Shuttles.
One use of the Transporter could be for transporting people to new atmospheric planets without going down. This could give access to dropping passengers for doing passenger mission involving atmopsheric or other planetary landings or for other things on those planets surfaces(especially if remote mission starting is added.) and it could allow an easier way to get mission items for certain mission types without having to land and waiste time. You could send the shuttle down to the atmospheric planet(which may have more odds of having such items or could always stock them. Plus the convenience that almost every beacon has an ELW next to it.) This could add a use for this for doing tourist beacon passenger missions and new playstyle options. If the Transporter is too big to be a shuttle a mini version could be implemented with less passenger space/cargo. This would also be useful if they made the panther clipper bigger than the mailbox. just give ita bunch of cargo stuff to transfer in to new very tiny shuttle pads or external shuttle docks. This would open more balance means and a way to customize or justify the Panther Clippers enormous potential cargo abilities. All those 7 slots I gave it could be full of shuttle craft and would give it a reason to have more than 3 crew. It could have lots of shuttle crew. In fact shuttle crew could be a whole new category of crew if needed. Maybe like the old ships it needs to fill in and takes a long time. Or you could make shuttle crew have a different pay structure and take longer to get. To be really funny you could make it take a real month like with Power play items to get them all! But with no fast forward!

That could be a real limiter for big transport ships. Crew gathering. That combined with actual shuttle crew death would make it interesting. You could get a new crew member every 3.3 days in real life. Then you have to make them count!!
But to compensate you might not need to have them to fly the ship. Or only on the first takeoff. Probably not at all as they are a convenience. Or only a few have to be on hand to fly the Panther clipper or Boa. Maybe 2 or 3 and the rest are cargo handlers. I wonder what type of rank ups they could get.
Is the Racer small enough to be a shuttle? Not completely sure the Transporter is as it's not 0.00 on the one stat. I don't know what all of that means. I'm assuming it's not as it's a competitor to the cobra MKIV.