To me, the Star Firestar and Astra A-70 were competing designs that were solid, reliable pistols that were natural evolutions of a compact 1911. They weren't 1911's, of course, but they filled the niche that the Star PD created, and it was more 1911-like. Indeed, a 1911 shooter would be comfortable with either product as the safety is in the same place, even if the feel is different. The Astra A-75 and SIG 225 took that one step-further with double action and the single-action versions lost their luster. The new compact 1911's further degraded their desirability.
With Star and Astra going out of business, nobody really stepped forward to keep the deisngs going (okay, Republic Arms of South Africa kept the 75 going for a while, but not the Firestar). Gabilondo's Llama products didn't help the reputation of Spanish pistols or their designs, either.