Notices

Business Week Article

Old 05-08-2005, 11:39 AM
  #1  
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Thread Starter
 
ApachePete's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Sarasota,FL & Saugatuck, MI
Posts: 1,060
Likes: 0
Received 23 Likes on 6 Posts
Default Business Week Article

Latest edition has a full page article on Cigarette, including big picture of 2 Top Guns.
ApachePete is offline  
Old 05-08-2005, 02:44 PM
  #2  
GLH
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
 
GLH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Burlington, VT
Posts: 15,272
Received 19 Likes on 13 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Thanks AP:

Can Cigarette Keep Smokin'?
Skip Braver has rebuilt the maker of muscle boats, but competitors abound

Skip Braver is an unlikely guy to be selling glitz. Dressed in a white shirt dotted with company logos, the burly 54-year-old former electronics (NTDOY ) salesman looks more like a high school wrestling coach than the CEO of Cigarette Racing Team LLC, the once and perhaps future killer brand of high-speed powerboats.

"I think of Skip as the icon of bowling on Friday nights," jokes a longtime friend and ex-business associate, Frank Bisceglia. Braver doesn't protest -- much. "Hey, I'm not a Calvin Klein model," he says. What Braver could be is an entrepreneur cagey enough to bring back the glory days of Cigarette Racing, a company that personified the good life when it started making muscle boats in Miami in 1969.

High-speed boating isn't for everyone -- or even everyone with a half-million dollars to plunk down for a machine that can roar across open water at 100 miles per hour. For some owners the rush of blow-your-face-off speed is the attraction. Others like to compete, usually in races called "poker runs," in which captains zoom from stop to stop collecting aces and queens. For most, though, it's all about image.

Cigarette's catalog is loaded with photos of ultrafast boats that, depending on your taste, could be anything from garish to awesome. Just as important to the sell are shapely female models suggesting that Cigarettes are babe-catchers. "You don't have to go 100 miles an hour in a Cigarette to look cool. You just have to pull up at the dock," says Braver.

No luxury is too costly for a Cigarette: Amenities include flat-screen TVs, high-end stereos, anodized aluminum accessories, and custom upholstery and paint jobs. For a comic book exec, Braver had Superman painted on a boat's deck and hull. Detroit catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and singer Enrique Iglesias are among the celebrities who own Cigarettes.

Back in the 1970s, Cigarette Racing had such a lock on the market that the company name became synonymous with fast boats. "It was the equivalent of Kleenex," says Bill Tweedie, a vice-president at Myco Trailer Co. in Bradenton, Fla., which sells its gear to owners of powerboats. "The brand name has been something that you just can't kill."

GUNNED DOWN
Yet cigarette racing did nearly stub itself out. A freakish series of events -- starting with the murder of company founder Don Aronow, who was gunned down in 1987 by a rival boat builder -- hurt Cigarette. Since then it has changed hands five times. The game of musical ownership tarnished the brand and cut into sales. In 1997, the company's nadir, Cigarette built just six boats.

Then along came Braver -- a hellacious salesman. "Skip's a unique guy. It seems like everything he gets into, he ends up buying the company," says Bob Vadala, a fellow sales rep in the 1980s who treated Braver to his first ride in a Cigarette boat -- a spin around the Statue of Liberty -- about five years ago.

A Chicago native, Braver made his first fortune selling consumer electronics to catalog stores and other retailers in the Midwest. In the early 1990s, as an avid skier, he moved to Colorado and became a developer of luxury homes. Then it was back to Chicago, where he owned General Motors (GM ) and Chrysler (DCX ) dealerships while indulging a passion for classic cars. Soon after that first Cigarette ride, Braver slapped down $300,000 to buy one. In 2002 he bought the boatmaker, paying more than $11.5 million, he says. He owns the private company except for a small share held by Neill Hernandez, who has worked for Cigarette for 17 years.

Even Braver's friends, who knew his passion for building businesses, questioned the move. When Braver took over, Cigarette's Miami boat-building plant was antiquated -- "a bunch of tin huts held together by masking tape," recalls his buddy Bisceglia. And haphazard systems had Braver only guessing what it cost to build his luxury vessels.

$1,500 WATCHES
Now, Braver presides over a company of about 120 employees that painstakingly turned out more than 80 powerboats last year. In 2004, Cigarette Racing completed a $10 million renovation and moved into a factory in Miami with its own custom upholstery shop and paint barn for curing splashy, hand-painted boats with names such as "Rum Runner" and "American Muscle." In the three years since Braver bought the company, the average retail price of a Cigarette has nearly doubled, to about $400,000. And he says Cigarette has been profitable each year, though he declines to give specifics.

Observers agree that Braver has brought badly needed stability to Cigarette, but challenges remain. According to industry estimates, only about 400 speedboats priced at $500,000 or above were sold in the U.S. last year. Competition for that minuscule market is fierce among a dozen companies, including Donzi Marine, Formula, Fountain, and Outerlimits. Cigarette's strategy is to build the power of its brand, including creation of a merchandise catalog offering such items as $500 pendants and $1,500 Cigarette watches.

Government regulation also is a threat. Noise restrictions on waterways and environmental laws such as zones protecting manatees and other marine animals have the potential to cut into powerboat sales, say industry observers.

What doesn't seem to matter to speedboat owners is an uncertain economy or the spiraling price of fuel, which can cost about $100 an hour of cruising at 80 mph. "These people have a lot of income. They want to go boating, and they want to look good," says Tweedie. Skip Braver can make that happen. Just make the check out to Cigarette Racing.

By Mark Hyman in Miami
GLH is offline  
Old 05-08-2005, 06:15 PM
  #3  
VIP Member
VIP Member
 
OldSchool's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Cape Coral, Florida
Posts: 10,367
Received 342 Likes on 114 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Profitable every year since Skip has owned the Co.? I seriously doubt that.
__________________
Happily retired and living in Heavens waiting room.
OldSchool is offline  
Old 05-08-2005, 06:57 PM
  #4  
Registered
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: cleveland
Posts: 5,811
Likes: 0
Received 6 Likes on 4 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

500k for a formula,donzi or fountain?!?!?!?!
dreamer is offline  
Old 05-08-2005, 07:04 PM
  #5  
Registered
 
JCPERF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Long Island,New York
Posts: 8,908
Received 8 Likes on 8 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Originally Posted by Too Old
In the three years since Braver bought the company, the average retail price of a Cigarette has nearly doubled, to about $400,000.
Thanks to Mercury
JCPERF is offline  
Old 05-08-2005, 07:38 PM
  #6  
Registered
 
masher44's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 7,076
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Originally Posted by JCPERF
Thanks to Mercury

You can buy a Cig with JCs mills for $200,000....
masher44 is offline  
Old 05-09-2005, 08:58 PM
  #7  
Registered
 
damdonzi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: ME and NH
Posts: 1,933
Received 12 Likes on 10 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Thanks for the cut & past GLH.

"In 1997, the company's nadir, Cigarette built just six boats."

damdonzi is offline  
Old 05-09-2005, 09:16 PM
  #8  
A to Z
Platinum Member
 
Sean H's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: KC/LOTO
Posts: 9,156
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Default Re: Business Week Article

Originally Posted by damdonzi
Thanks for the cut & past GLH.

"In 1997, the company's nadir, Cigarette built just six boats."


i am sure somebody on here can tell ya all 6 too....
Sean H is offline  
Old 05-09-2005, 09:18 PM
  #9  
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
 
CAP071's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: USA
Posts: 16,435
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Originally Posted by Too Old
In the three years since Braver bought the company, the average retail price of a Cigarette has nearly doubled, to about $400,000.

How many are being sold now compared to years back?
CAP071 is offline  
Old 05-09-2005, 09:25 PM
  #10  
VIP Member
VIP Member
 
OldSchool's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Cape Coral, Florida
Posts: 10,367
Received 342 Likes on 114 Posts
Default Re: Business Week Article

Originally Posted by CAP071
How many are being sold now compared to years back?
Not enough!!
__________________
Happily retired and living in Heavens waiting room.
OldSchool is offline  

Quick Reply: Business Week Article


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.