Cigarette Racing Team Sold
 

Breaking news, https://www.speedonthewater.com/ciga...ing-team-sold/

Wow!

Super interesting! Congrats Skip!

Wow, did not see that coming! Good luck Skip. Hopefully the Tradition will continue.

Guess this explains why bud retired

:eekdrop: :eekdrop: :eekdrop: Wow!!!!!!!!

Skip is in his early 70's, Cig had to have one of its best years with sales and real estate is absolutely at an all time high (both commercial and residential)..............time to cash out! :D

I'm pretty sure Skip owned Cigarette longer than anyone else including Aronow. Guy was a visionary with the AMG partnership over the years!

I thought the same thing and even Stu at FPC noted that Cig didn't sponsor a recent event and "hopefully" they would be returning as a headline sponsor next year.

Good for skip. I’m sure he did well. He grew cigarette to unprecedented heights which I think is pretty funny looking back at public opinion at times and all the criticism and shade that was thrown his way in the beginning. His business plan worked out very well in the end.

The team at cigarette remains in place and its business as usual. Seems lionheart is your typical investment company which would normally give me pause and concern because investment groups aren’t usually invested into the product, more juts into getting money. But with Ruiz involved I think there’s a great likelihood the company will continue to grow and move towards new adventures and developments. Ruiz is a cigarette guy. That’s a good thing. Remember, skip was a cigarette guy before he bought the company as well.

Change is usually good. Fresh perspective is always good. I’m looking forward to seeing how things progress.

Saw a press releases that said they might start putting useable cabins in the boats......

Sounds like a very happy and well earned retirement day. I’m sure the brand will continue on in strength. Maybe the new owners will do something special? How about a cat? (Just to show they’ve arrived :))

RR

Jup Sun has reentered the chat....

I read that Skip bought Cigarette in 2002 for $11.5M. Im curious what it sold for?

me too


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...246bd7f6ae.jpg

I love these two facts presented in the article:

1. " billionaire entrepreneur John H. Ruiz"
2. " Ruiz has been a high-performance powerboat fan since he was 15 years old. He purchased his first Cigarette—a 38 Top Gun in the early 2000s. Since then, he owned has owned many Cigarette offerings from four 46 Rough Riders to a 59 Tirranna"

A man with a vast amount of money, a billionaire, who loves Cigarette boats (Mr. John Ruiz); I am very optimistic about this new chapter for the Cigarette Racing Team. Cigarette has always been and always will be (hopefully) my favorite performance powerboat brand.

Now that is a story Matt!

I know this has been seen by alot of people, but kind of surprised it has not received more/any discussion here.
The CEO of Cigarette Racing Team is the 22 year old son of one of the new owners, and the COO is his brother?
https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/b...o-of-cigarette

Never would have guessed it was a hundred million dollar company.

CRAZY!!!! I hope they just stay out of the way of the normal operations and let the company do what it does.
They hired Mindi Doller, so maybe they do have a clue about listening to the people who know what they are doing.

A 22 year old may be better than the old Fk thats running the country. Like Griff said hope they stay out of the way and let a good thing keep rolling. If they dial in parts, apparel and service with Mindi it will fill the void they had in the past. (at least a call back would be nice for parts and information) Need to pair up with a American made muscle car company and let the AMG go, IMO. Good luck to the new blood at Cig...

Just to put the age thing in perspective: Mike Fiore was 23 when he founded Outerlimits, Dan Kleitz is a young guy that has been running OL for years (through some terrible times). The current owners of Midnight Express were young kids when their dad acquired ME from Tom Mason. So success can happen and with what appears to be huge capital behind the new owners they can afford to experiment with new ideas.

That being said, not sure Jr is going to be the CEO of CRT and be able to start law school. The ideas like condo branding and yachts seem crazy ambitious but then again guys like Elon Musk have been called crazy too!

Revenue has grown 3 times over in 3 months? I highly doubt that. I cant imagine Cigarette only builds 20 boats per year? And if they do, and they plan to build 80 next year, I sure hope they plan to keep the same quality.

but he still has time to get aboard his own 42-foot Auroris. “There’s nothing better than going 100 mph on a boat, with the wind in your face,” said Alex. “It’s a really thrilling experience.” !00 mph in an Auroris ?

Maybe the guy talked his friends into ordering new boats from Cigarette now that he owns it?

Do you know what multi level marketing companies love hiring kids? Because their friends/family usually are the kid's first orders! They want to support the kid so they buy the product. Granted these aren't Cutco knives but in billionaire circles a 500-600-700K boat isn't a budget breaker.

Building the boats won't be the struggle(unless Mercury can't deliver the powerplants), selling an extra 60 boats a year will be.......knock out a few demo/theme boats, then sell to your friends, get a few current owners to upgrade...........ok that blew out 25 boats now how do you sell 55 more through a handful of dealers......maybe be like Harley and force dealers to stock up on inventory?

Sure if it is powered by 1550s like the one 42 Huntress that was powered by 1100s.

The way I read the article he was doing a 100 in his dads old top gun, but I am just a dumb meat guy....Redoing my 15 GTS and found plenty stuff not correct from factory it made me happy I pulled apart for winter fun.

The whole situation sounds fishy to me. Though I was initially optimistic about the new ownership, I can't help but feel like Cigarette is dead. Doesn't seem like the new owners are interested in focusing on the brand's heritage and sweet spot. And the comment about revenue tripling in 3 months doesn't really make sense to me...

Seems the focus is entering new categories where Cigarette doesn't exist:
1) Cigarette Yachts. And I believe Cigarette previously had a partnership with a european yacht builder that built a line of "cigarette yachts." Didn't go over well.
2) Cigarette Jet Ski's. lots of questions here...
3) Cigarette Golf Carts. even more questions here....
4) A Cigarette apartment building, like the aston martin building...

I imagine they're just going to license out the cigarette name, but sounds like its going to get over saturated. I love Cig, but I really don't think the brand is strong enough

The yachts should be called.... CIGARS. :lolhit:

Skepticism is easily thrown out there when there is change and that change brings on such grandiose optimism and deviation in standard vision from new ownership. However, I'd remind you of all the negativity and comments posted on here and other places when Skip bought Cigarette. Nothing but negativity and look what he did. Grew Cigarette more than anyone since Aronow.

I'll sit back and monitor Cigs progress with raised eyebrow and guarded optimism of positive growth.

Bold statements from what I read, I don't see how a manufacture can not think about the potential problems taking place economically. I get the demographics of your typical buyers of new cigs, many can afford a cool million+ for a new order boat, but there are plenty that cannot and I assume their projections are inclusive of international sales. Its a fools errand to not consider the state of this economy going forward . When this company was purchased in May it was a different time given what we are now seeing and/or have seen in the last 5 months with the US economy a ship without a captain and no signs of intelligent life to be found.

When I first heard of the acquisition I was honestly quite excited by the prospect of new ownership, and what the injection of enthusiasm from a passionate owner would bring. But as I've heard heard more and more from direct sources, it sounds like an exercise in slapping Cigarette's name on everything they can get their hands on. I also find it somewhat worrisome that virtually all of the prior management chose to leave rather than stay on.

With all of that negativity out of the way, I really am cautiously optimistic. Cigarette is a great brand, and the new ownership has what I think is an incredible opportunity at an excellent time.

The projections are pretty vague, even for a small volume boat builder. Has revenue actually tripled? or have orders tripled? and then how do you manage that in an up and down business. Did they have one order in may, and now booked 3 orders in august, and thus orders tripled in 3 months? Not saying that's the case, but its very vague

Nice

You guys are ageists !!!!
Now I need a safe room and a puppy you racists ageists!

Parker from Gold Rush is 25 and that kids runs a pretty huge mining operation.
Maybe give the guy a chance before you bury him.

I need one of these golf carts tho

540 or 565............:D

parker worked under the tutelage of his grandfather coming out of the womb. And gradually took on more responsibility as his grandfathers health deteriorated. That is completely different than this situation.

again hope I’m wrong.