hoozeyurdaddy

compairing apples to apples, your saying your drive sys. is cheaper than the bravo sys. what would it cost to convert a bravo to a arneson? From the bellhousing to the prop?
this information would give a lot of us something to think about.

bck

Excerpted from a publically posted 2004 market research paper
Mercury Marine, a Brunswick Company, produces MerCruiser stern drives in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Brunswick has dominated the market with a 70 plus percent share of the U.S. market in recent years.
The U.S. consumes the most of the stern drives produced in the world. Most other developed
countries use diesel inboards (shaft drives) in larger recreational boats because gas is much more
expensive in other parts of the world. Less developed countries have few recreational power boats of
any type. Brunswick especially "owns" the U.S. high performance recreational stern drive market.
They also dominate the racing market.
Their Stillwater location marinizes General Motors automotive engines (modifies them for running in
boats and in marine environments). On-site aluminum die cast operations produce stern drive
housings and related components. Marinization of diesel engines for use on inboards and stern drives
also occurs in Stillwater. Marinization, combined with die casting, machining, painting, assembly,
testing, packaging and many other operations result in boxed engines and stern drives ready for
shipment. Racing stern drives are built in Wisconsin.
Brunswick’s vertical integration and marketing practices separate them from the competition.
Depending on which side you are talking to, somewhere between a little and a lot of Brunswick’s
domination is due to the captive market they established by purchasing Bayliner, Sea Ray, and about a
dozen other boat companies. Their strong dealership network is also a plus. Recently, they took it one
step further by purchasing some major marine parts houses. Brunswick’s pricing practices have also
helped them dominate the market. They encourage builders to purchase higher volumes and more
product lines from Brunswick to receive the largest discounts possible. Stern drives represent a large
percentage of the total cost of building a stern drive boat. In order to be price competitive with boats
from other builders receiving the maximum discount, many independent (non-captive) builders
purchase a large percentage (or all) of their outboards and stern drives from Brunswick to get the
highest discounts. Some independents do not like dealing with Brunswick because they have to
compete with Brunswick owned boat companies in the marketplace.
Brunswick’s annual corporate reports have been of no value in estimating stern drive volumes. They
are a huge company and lumps any stern drive data into the discussion of their entire marine segment.
The most they ever say is that stern drives are up or down "x" percent in volume or dollars, but they
never provide a base line.
Several statistical sources for MerCruiser stern drive production volume and market share are
provided on the following pages

hoozeyurdaddy

I understand what you are saying, for the smaller manufacture it is difficult to get any product out there in any volume, which is to bad, there is a lot of good stuff out there, like the arneson and other drive sys. It's like the mom & pop store on the corner vs walmart.

bck

LAKE FOREST, Ill., Brunswick announced today that it has been served with a lawsuit filed recently in Federal District Court in Virginia claiming Brunswick violated various provisions of the antitrust laws in connection with its sales of MerCruiser sterndrive and inboard engines. The suit was filed by Volvo Penta of the Americas, Inc., seeking damages in an unspecified amount and injunctive relief. Brunswick said it believes the suit is without merit and will aggressively defend itself against it.
The complaint invokes the allegations contained in a suit brought in Little Rock, Ark., where, as previously reported, a jury awarded a group of 22 boat builders treble damages totaling $133 million in June 1998. The company is in the process of appealing this verdict. While there can be no assurances, the company believes the jury verdict will ultimately be reversed.




BRUNSWICK HIT WITH 3RD ANTITRUST SUIT
Chicago Tribune
6 Jan 199
by Sallie L. Gaines
Brunswick Corp., already enmeshed in two antitrust lawsuits, said Tuesday it has been hit with a third one, accusing the Lake Forest-based company of unfairly monopolizing the marine engine market.
The latest suit was filed in federal court in Virginia by Volvo Penta of the Americas Inc. Volvo, based in Chesapeake, Va., manufactures stern drives for boats. The suit calls for unspecified damages, Brunswick said.

Brunswick said the suit is without merit, but noted that it includes essentially the same charges as a suit the company lost last year in federal court in Little Rock, Ark.

In that case, brought by Independent Boat Builders Inc., a jury decided Brunswick was guilty of restraint of trade and levied a fine of $44.4 million. Because fines in antitrust cases are tripled, the levy against Brunswick totaled $133 million.

Brunswick is appealing the verdict.

That verdict prompted another antitrust case, filed in October in federal court in Minnesota by two boat builders.

The issue in all three cases is Brunswick's dominance in the marine-engine industry through its Mercury Marine subsidiary, based in Fond du Lac, Wis.

Brunswick also is a major manufacturer of powerboats through its acquisition of popular brands including Sea Ray, Maxum, Baja, Trophy and Boston Whaler.

Boat builders have argued that Brunswick's acquisitions have unfairly lessened competition.

They also have argued that Brunswick gives its own boat-building units better deals on engines than outside manufacturers. Builders also say Brunswick requires them to commit to buy unrealistically high numbers of engines to get the best prices.

ndaniels

Figure around 20K+ for the conversion (lists 23K)... only other thing you'd need is a transom water pickup, I think.
I would absolutly love to convert my 21 to an Arnesen (used have a blackhawk on it) I need to start saving my $s up

ken sampson

iTrader: (1)

I have a lot of Arneson parts if anyone needs anything. Almost enough to put 4 ADS-8's together.

HTRDLNCN

Like has been said before, go-fast market is a small piece of the pie,
surface drives do have a decent market in the big sport cruisers,
typical family runabouts that are the bread and butter are never gonna be a market for surface drives,
1. They would scare most average Joes
2. No one is gonna spend the time to set them up correctly
3. You will have a razor sharp cuisinart right where little jimmy is swimming behind the boat .

Look at the bread and butter of the production boat market and youll find half are still using the Alpha drive,not even the Bravo.
Want to compare cost there?