State of the Industry from Scott Sjogren
 

OSO Magazine INSIDE THE INDUSTRY: CALL IT A COMEBACK

No bail out of the performance boating industry from Barry, as the economy improves I bet the industry though smaller will thrive and I am confident that the time line will increase or decrease drastically based on who takes control of the white house...... Bet you'll never guess who I'm voting for

Great write up thanks for posting!

not the case in my area... same boats are advertised for over.... 2 years in many cases!

Really?

Bet you'll never guess who I'm voting for; FOUR MORE YEARS. :lolhit:

I agree with Scott 100%

When buyers get back in, there won't be any low hour inventory left in good condition.

I still think 2-3 years

And some are advertised for 2 hrs and sold. Finding the true market value of your ride may be difficult right now, but when you find it the boat will sell.

There are countless boats are there priced at the market value of 5 years ago. I don't care how much you have into it, the days of selling your updated 1988 boat for $80k are over.

OSO has a great guide for boat market value. Simply scroll through the classifieds and look for the "sold" icon, all of them seem to have one thing in common....priced at market value.

Wait...what boat do you own again? :party-smiley-004: :lolhit:

It always makes me laugh when I consider that the two biggest Democrat flag-wavers on this board don't own boats. One talks about the one that was stolen how many years ago...the other takes pictures of boats.

I'll be voting for the lesser of two evils...the current evil is a bit too much to bear...not to mention the person next in line is a blithering idiot...

Without question, different regions in the country are going to have different market dynamics. But what's even more relevant than that is Scott Sjogren/Pier 57 markets aggressively and diligently, and they have been at it awhile.

Chances are your area doesn't haven't a new/used high-performance boat dealer on the scale of Pier 57 because, in all honesty, there aren't many dealers like Pier 57. No disrespect intended to any of the other solid, hardworking dealers out there. Not one bit. I'm just saying that part of the inventory-moving equation in any given area has to do with the dealer or dealers in the area, and to that end Pier 57, on volume alone, does well. For sure, some of that is a function of market consolidation. (Think about the number of big-name dealer on the scene five years ago and ask yourself where they are now.) But that doesn't completely explain it.

Well glad to see things are stabilizing but look at everything we lost on the way down:

Baja
Donzi
Fountain

all come to mind. Shogren has some nice boats and they are priced reasonably, but I just don't see someone who is shopping in the $150k range today going out and buying the same thing tomorrow or the next year at $500k.

So either list/advertised prices on new boats are really inflated compared to what the selling price actually is or there is a huge chasm to cross to get back to a 50/50 new/used ratio.

Shogren has 2 39 TG's listed for around $350k. New that boat is listed at what? $550k, $600k? That's still a 200-250k discrepancy that takes a lot of buyers out of the market.

I couldn't have said it better myself! Scary times when an idiot like that can be our vp

Pantera got "lost" along the way also! :evilb:

Shogren is asking the same money for the old OSO 39 TG that you could have bought it for 2+ years ago.

The 43 ZR appears to be the same one you could have bought 2 years ago as a new leftover/dealership closeout for the same amount he is asking now with about 60 more hours.

So Scott is either moving inventory and creating a market or simply is the guy to go to for nice low hour stuff (or both).
The guy took the risk in a down market so he is certainly entitled to reap the benefits.

One thing the article doesn't mention is "new inventory." Gone are the days of floorplanning new stuff waiting for the buyer. That Cig dealer in Texas sat on a couple brand new Cigs for years before finding them buyers. Shogren would rather buy 5 used boats at 100K each than one new 39 TG and probably make more on the used ones than the single new boat. Manufacturers would certainly love to have dealers ordering new inventory like the old days!

Something else to consider: Floor planning in the high-performance powerboat world is gone, to a great extent, because floor plan financing is gone.

Come on...........seriously! There are $750,000-$1,000,000 boats all over the OSO Classifieds ads 2 to 3 maybe 4 years old at half their new price. The economy is TOUGH right now to say the least and performance boats are right in there at the bottom of the list.

I have to agree. Until the economy improves, the number of people that will be buying new boats will be severely limited. There's a big difference buying a 42 Fountain used for $180k or a new OL29 for $200k. New boat prices need to come back to more reasonable levels for sales to ramp quite frankly.

Scott is right on many accounts...

In our factory I have seen a few key observations some may like to note:

I have not had a boat get financed in quite some time.. So long that I can not even remember. Yes, we have sent some to finance that did not go through. The days of the 10% down boat loan are over boys....
Many buyers don't even ask about financing... They are just paying for the boats.

Every potential trade in has been represented as perfect, mint, cherry, fresh, etc... NONE have been. We have taken a pass on many deals based on the trade blocking the way. I don't mind making a great deal on a new boat, but putting too much in the trades can kill a builder (or dealer). Trades are a huge obstacle now.. I have a 51 OL in good shape that we took in months ago, have offered at a great price, yet it still welcomes me to the shop every morning...

Manufacturing costs keep going up... Yes, we all got a increase from mother Mercury... Fiberglass is up, even upholstery foam is up.
Bringing new boat costs down is a dream at best.

We have sold several boats all over the globe recently...

"Action" is up for sure... as is competition...

We have been making significant changes in our structure.... Take a look at our press release in the Industry News section on OSO.... Two new industry greats have joined the team at DI this week.

We are on the throttle at Deep Impact.

I don't think Pantera is gone.... This is the first I have heard of this...

I think they got hit the hardest in this economic down fall, 7 bankruptcies in the past 12 years. Someday we will all look back at this great recession and know that the early court filings of Pantera when everyone else was fine was a sign of things to come. :whistle::whistle:

Baja is back, a little

Reggie is trying to come back, however has plans to just build a few custom boats, so most likely he will doll them up, rig them to the gills and try to make big money like the other smart mfgs are doing....I don't blame him. Why build 10 mid to low level boats when you can build one and sell to a cash buyer direct?

I hear a lot of people on this forum asking for the mid to low end brands to make a comeback. Who really is going to buy a new 33 Baja for 200k? WHO? How about a new 33 Donzi for $300k?...anyone? Volume also lowers prices, so building a few of these discontinued mfgs models is not going to cut it. The demand is still not there for a new afforable boat, if it was checkmate would be in FIRE right now.....no one is on fire. Merc has a near monopoly, these boats certainly are not going to get any cheaper.

I don't think floor planning is the problem, I think it is more financing still. I think if you offered financing to those that can not afford boats, like they did 6 years ago the problem would be solved :lolhit: The banks are wiser, they know it takes more that being able to make the boat and insurance payment to afford a boat.

That 51 OL seems to be greeting me on my computer every morning as well, trying real hard not to buy it! Might be the deal of the year.