Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/459238
36 | Boating Industry | January 2015 www.BoatingIndustry.com /// Market Trends /// means compression ratios in excess of 11.5 to 1, which brings better fuel efficiency and converts the fuel into energy for better propulsion. The new engines are designed to reduce fuel consumption by over 20 percent and meet the world's most rigorous emission standards, in- cluding EPA and CARB, by a wide margin, ac- cording to Huibers. "The only reason we can bring that to the marine space," said Huibers, "is because we're leveraging the millions and millions of engines that General Motors makes." Dealers will be happy to see that all service points on the new engines are upfront and accessi- ble, and Volvo Penta offers the longest engine war- ranty in the industry – five years – directly through the company. The company will roll out longer extended service intervals and recently introduced 24/7/365 technical support for its distributors, dealers and OEMs. Understandably tight-lipped about the de- tails, Huibers hinted at some exciting new prod- ucts coming out that will define new segments for the company and hopefully increase boating participation through providing confidence to everyone on the water. "We continue to look for ways to make boat- ing easy and what we want to do is get more people to enjoy the boating lifestyle. We think that technology is the key component," said Huibers. "It needs to be reliable, it needs to be easy and it needs to be fun." Evenly matched manufacturers With these two different paths of engine manu- facturing, how do OEMs feel? Do the options cause boat builders to suggest either Mercury or Volvo Penta has an advantage in the market- place over the other? For Roch Lambert, president of Rec Boat Holdings, the answer is no. Lambert has seen new products from both manufacturers and likes what he sees, and while he believes there may be a bit of a distinction between Mercury and Volvo Penta moving forward, he says the engines are comparable in basically every way. "We like the direction they're [both] taking," says Lambert, "The performance of one versus another is not going to drastically change so a Roch Lambert, president of Rec Boat Holdings, would like to see engine manufacturers focus on sterndrive products that provide similar features to alternative options. Nautic Global Group would like to see sterndrive engines with more horsepower in smaller footprints. /// Market Trends ///