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Power
& Motoryacht is a magazine that deals mostly in fact: We do boat
tests, explain in detail how to take care of your boat, present first-hand
cruising stories to great places—that kind of thing. But every once
and a while it’s fun to leave the realm of known facts and wander
about the land of what-if. Or to put it bluntly, to engage in a little
speculation, maybe even rumor. And that’s what I’m going to
do here.
The
subject of my speculation is the Brunswick Corporation in general and
U.S. Marine in particular. As many of you are aware, Brunswick recently
purchased Hatteras Yachts from Genmar, adding to an imposing stable of
boatbuilders that already included Sea Ray, U.S. Marine (Bayliner, Maxum,
and Trophy fishing boats), Sealine, Baja, and Boston Whaler. (It also
owns Mercury Marine.) Given the brand recognition associated with each
of those names, it’s not hard to understand why a corporation would
want to own them, and on the surface they represent what seems to be a
pretty strong strategy. Boatbuilders, and the corporations that own them,
know that given a pleasant ownership experience, boaters tend to stay
with a brand until it no longer offers them the boat they’re looking
for, whether it be a different type of boat or a larger one.
That
being the case, Brunswick seems to be in the catbird’s seat: Its
brands offer boats from around 17 to 100 feet in a host of configurations,
plus niche models dedicated to high performance and fishing. But its brands
also compete against each other. Sea Ray, Sealine, and Maxum all offer
express, bridge, and aft-cabin vessels, for example. Sea Ray and Bayliner
both offer small boats, and Boston Whaler and Trophy offer fishing boats.
Sealine doesn’t have any entry-level boats, so it must get at least
some of its customers from other builders—conceivably, some of it’s
sister companies under Brunswick.
It’s
fair to assume that Brunswick’s basic game plan involves being able
to take owners from entry-level Sea Rays and Bayliners to the largest
Hatteras. Perhaps it also intends to allow its companies to compete against
each other for customers in some cases. But I have to believe that right
now Brunswick feels it may have too many competing models and somehow
intends to winnow those out by perhaps refocusing a few brands.
And
so to speculation: Given that Sea Ray, Bayliner, Maxum, and Sealine all
offer midsize cruisers, one could imagine some shake-out here. Its European
heritage arguably makes Sealine different. Sea Ray is the 800-pound gorilla
of express cruisers, so Brunswick would be unlikely to mess with that
line, which could mean changes at Maxum, which also makes express cruisers.
Bayliner’s price-conscious motoryachts are strong sellers in the
Northwest but have never done too well elsewhere. Plus I suspect Brunswick
would love to have a strong line of aft-cabin boats to compete with Carver
and Silverton.
So here’s
the rumor: U.S. Marine will introduce an entirely new line of cruisers,
six or seven boats ranging from the mid-30s to around 70 feet, called
Meridian. They’ll be upscale aft-cabin and/or flying bridge models
that will complement the Sea Ray and Sealine offerings, but not compete
against them. Clearly, if this were so, it would require a refocusing
of Maxum and perhaps call into question the future of Bayliner’s
motoryachts.
Again,
this is all rumor and speculation, and no one at Brunswick or U.S. Marine
is talking. But such a move would give Brunswick an impressively comprehensive
lineup. I may be completely off base here. On the other hand there is
that mysterious ad for a “new yacht” in this issue and the
Web site www.thenewyacht.com.
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