Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/288177
April 2014 | Boating Industry | 13 www.BoatingIndustry.com SSX line, which is our premium line of sport boats, that particular line now has four new boats. We started off a year or so ago with the 327. We followed up behind that with two other strong boats, and this year a new 30-foot SSX. All of those boats have sold well. I don't think that diminished anything from the H 2 Os, but what that did do is raise our average sales price, as those boats are considerably more expensive than the H 2 O brand. We have seen a little better interest in the cruiser market as well. As a matter of fact, we have been pleased with results of some of the cruiser sales. [Cruisers] up to 37 feet have done better than they have last year. I can't say that's a trend, but we've been very pleased so far with the results. Boating Industry: How about the H 2 O line? Are those boats continuing to sell well? LANE: The truth is they did just as well if not better because of the introduction of a 21. A lot of our customers said they loved the boat, they loved the price, but didn't we have a 21 instead of an 18 or a 19. So we listened and we came out with a 21. We introduced that boat last April. We had an opportunity to build a number of them in the summer months. Dealers were very anxious to put some of those in their inventory for the boat shows, so the 21 was a very successful introduction for us as well. Boating Industry: Will there be more boats coming in the H 2 O series? LANE: Our plans right now is to keep the H 2 O series exactly where it is. We feel that having six models in that H 2 O line is adequate right this minute. We might be adding some additional product into the SSX line, but not to the H 2 O line this year. We feel the additional smaller boats we sell this year will come from the Vortex introduction. Boating Industry: What's the current status of the Vortex? When can we expect to see them available for buyers? LANE: Let me mention something about the Vortex that I think is interesting about us getting into this market. We're not planning on building a jet boat. We're planning on building a Chap- arral with jet power. I think that's a very, very interesting distinction. When we did our homework on this, we found that a lot of customers liked jet power for any number of reasons … but in some cases we heard what was lacking was the traditional sport boat look with jet power. One of the things that we had in our design was to look at the jet boat a little bit differently, like we did the H 2 O. We wanted to build a Chaparral with our DNA, but power it with a jet engine. Not that you won't see some rather inter- esting graphics and some interesting dashes on those boats that are a little out of the stern- drive look, but for the most part we want people to know we're putting our same DNA in these boats that we would put in any boat that we build. When we presented that to our dealer network, we got an overwhelming re- sponse to that particular method of entering into that market. We've begun a slow rollout. We started put- ting a select number of boats in key shows and have been very pleased with the response. The big rollout of our product line will be as we move into the 2015 model year. At that time, we hope to have three models and then we'll plan a roll- out of the complete model line. I believe we'll have some signifi cant results with this product. I'm very hopeful about it, and listening to our dealers, I think they are behind the project and will push it through their dealerships. Boating Industry: Is this going to help attract new buyers to Chaparral or are these people who may have bought sterndrives before? LANE: I think these will be a lot of new buyers. As people age out of their involvement with personal watercraft, they're constantly looking to move up to different products. I believe we'll offer them a product they couldn't fi nd previous to now. Will this hurt some of the other products out in the marketplace, including some sterndrives? I think it will. But I don't think for us it's going to have a signifi cant impact on our sterndrive busi- ness. I think we're going to attract people who want to move to jet power in a more traditional fashion. That's what our marketing strategy is going to be. Boating Industry: What's your outlook for fi berglass sterndrives? Can you continue to grow in that market? LANE: We have so far. If you look at our busi- ness, look at market share data, we grew our sterndrive business this year. Industry-wide there is a concern about the sterndrive market and it has been in a declining mode, but it is declining less and less. I believe that the new product our engine partners are developing – Volvo and Mer- cruiser – is going to offer some interesting new power options to the sterndrive market that will help reenergize that. Boating Industry: What do you expect for 2014? Will the industry have another year of growth? LANE: I know that's what we're planning on. As we submitted our fi nancial plan to the board of directors, we are anticipating for the 2014 cal- endar year to have growth, and in the '14 model year and the new products we have coming into '15. Is it going to be unprecedented growth? I don't believe so, but I think it will be smooth and steady growth for us. "We're not planning on building a jet boat. We're planning on building a Chaparral with jet power. I think that's a very, very interesting distinction." P12x13-BI14APR-Q&A.indd 13 3/13/14 4:09 PM