Rhetoric from the divided OBM industry is pathetic!

WITH every passing day, The Skipper is more certain than ever, dear reader, that the marine industry is not a sanctuary for the faint-hearted or those in possession of focused, logical and rational thought processes. In times of economic strife, when we should all be unequivocally pulling together as a cohesive, collective paradigm of solidarity in a concerted effort to woo customers to buy our wares, what do we find? Petty, sniping, prissy, hissy and pathetic scare-mongering from both sections of the inanely divided OBM industry – that’s what.

Whilst this piece again touches slightly on grey imports (see blogs passim), of which The Skipper is a diehard and rabid opponent, it is also about the feckless futility of recent press releases by representatives of the two protagonists, OEDA and AMEC, in relation to parallel imports of OBMs.

First things first: the phenomenon of grey OBM imports is hardly an epidemic and will never be so. It is The Skipper’s bet that we’re not even talking about hundreds of units; probably more like dozens. And why is it happening now rather than as a trend over several years? Simple; it’s mostly because of massive, bloated inventories in US warehouses, as dealers try to wade through mountains of stock foisted upon them before our old nemesis, the GFC, scuppered their retail activity. When the US rises from the recessionary mire and dealers are once again able to secure retail finance and make worthwhile margins, what incentive is there for them to risk draconian censure from outboard companies (at least two of which operate territorial-violation policies that make ours look like the ineffectual joke they are) and loss of the franchise?

Everybody should settle down and take a breath; the grey import of outboards will be as short-lived as a Green candidature in Pauline Hanson’s constituency or a Kevin Rudd tribute night in The Pilbara. A simplistic, shallow and trite explanation, you say? Yes, but still true. And as for OEDA’s press release with supposed concern for owners’ safety, is this really the best their spokesman could muster? For example, the comment about proper PDI procedure can be interpreted as a resolutely last-ditch, grasping-at-straws argument.

It is a fact that most modern outboards (with the exception of high-HP, top-end models with drive-by-wire control systems, etc) can be said to be - and The Skipper hates to embrace such gauche Americanisms but, in this case, it’s the only apt description - “plug and play”. Not that yours truly would ever sanction or condone such a practice by supposedly clued-up buyers or backyard installers but, though serious, it’s truly not a life-and-death scenario.

As to that member from the similarly erudite, august group (AMEC) representing the “other” side of the OBM industry, their press releases have been equally and pathetically risible. Owners’ handbooks not written in English? Wow! How dangerous! That’d definitely be the key factor stopping me from making an overseas purchase! Let’s put it into perspective: within 10 minutes of The Skipper’s house, it is possible (due to the polyglot, multi-cultural nature of this country) to have anything translated to/from Spanish, Portugese, French and German. And what about the lack of a C-tick compliance mark? You know when this is important? It’s “important” only when the product is new. After 2-3 years, it’s just another used outboard in the marketplace and a C-tick is about as critical as an i-pod receptacle in a used car.

So, as you can see, dear reader, the pronouncements and advisory notices issued on parallel imports by OEDA and a representative member of its "competitior", AMEC, are about as daunting, stern and strict as a dressing-down by Bananas in Pyjamas. When The Skipper says that AMEC is a competitor of OEDA, this should not literally be the case; after all, both bodies import and sell basically the same type of fossil-fuelled marine engines – but there the similarity ends. These people can’t even agree on how to go about their common purpose.

Could you imagine the state of the car industry if egos, tantrums, recalcitrance, truculence, inflexibility, petty-mindedness and grandstanding were allowed to run riot? Could you imagine the schisms, coups and routs that would result? However, the car industry shows us that when times are lean, you pull together, issue statements together, initiate policy together and “sing from the same hymn sheet”. And due to this solidarity, the car industry knows how to deal with grey imports – freeze them out; stigmatise them and make them as popular as flatulence in a lift. When nearly every other industry can put up a unified, fraternal front in the fight to promote its products en bloc, the outboard motor importers co-exist in a symbiosis of mutual loathing and distrust. They are like two divergent armies who, separately, might win an occasional battle but who are incapable of mustering forces to fight the one war that really matters: collectively winning over people to buy their products.

Grey imports, though minimal, could be virtually non-existent if the OBM industry were to unite and issue credible, intelligent, reasoned, communally-created press releases. The current rift-driven psyche of the importers beggars belief.