SKIPPER'S BLOG: The Devil you know...

AS you’ve heard nothing from me for a while, dear reader, I thought it was about time to offend your sensitivities again with some of the contentious, pompous, opinionated verbiage for which I am known. My fleeting reappearance may either intensely annoy or delight you (more likely to be the former rather than the latter), but industry developments – recent and possibly pending – dictate that I apprise you of where I think we’re collectively heading. And frankly, from where I’m sitting, I reckon we’re not in the best of shape in terms of viability, sustainability and – here it comes again – profitability.

Firstly, let’s get back to my pet subject (one on which I have successfully polarised the entire readership): products from China. We’ve just had announcements about a) a builder of GRP boats sourcing aluminium boats and b) a builder of aluminium craft sourcing outboards from there. In both cases, the issue is not China as such (although it certainly doesn’t scream “Quality is Job 1”); it’s about why both companies would even bother entering perilous, disaster-fraught, uncharted waters such as these. Whilst these products may be in more or less the same orbit or general grouping as products manufactured by both parties (i.e. the marine industry) , they are segments in which neither company has any experience. I’d wager, in fact, that if the idea of tinnies was even subtly hinted at to the GRP builder a few years ago, it would have garnered the same sort of response as a stubbie-clad, thong-thwacking backpacker lobbing in the foyer of the Palazzo Versace and asking for a last-minute special rate on a room.

This particular boat manufacturer was synonymous with a prestigious, blue-chip, superbly-crafted product, a product where one had to be prepared to “pay to play”.  Nothing wrong with that, I say; their boats were both inspirational and aspirational, and the upper-tier models were targeted at those who probably could afford a larger, marina-kept boat but elected to stay close to their trailer-boating roots. It was, therefore, a select product in a totally unique market niche. Additionally, this company’s “owner rallies” were a marketing guru’s dream. The old Skipper remembers blundering into the middle of one such event one weekend on McCarr’s Creek on Pittwater, as the seething, swarming flotilla made for Akuna Bay like a WW11 supply convoy to Murmansk. In all my years in the industry, I had never, ever seen such a stunning show of single-brand solidarity and camaraderie. And this company now wants to sell aluminium boats which, if they were movies, for instance, would be straight to DVD. Or it would be like a Lexus dealer putting Chinese vehicles such as Chery or Great Wall on the raised plinth in the showroom. 

And as for the tinnie manufacturer which thinks that no-name, plagiarised copies of archaic, first-generation models from a leading outboard manufacturer (models which that manufacturer will phase out once emissions regulations tighten up internationally) will raise its profile and industry standing…..well, this is about as likely as Bob Brown approving a dam in the Derwent River. This expansion plan is even more preposterous than the GRP builder dabbling in tinnies – which are the speciality of the second company! A further eye-opener is that the tinnie company (the real tinnie company, not the GRP tinnie one - please try to stay with me) already has an established, name-brand OBM supplier. How will this “business partner” react, now that its client has encroached upon its key business? Also, will the tinnie company still expect the name-brand OBM supplier to honour any existing agreement? And we won’t even mention the tribulations, headaches and service/warranty nightmares (which, with a Chinese brand, will be legion) that will now engulf this tinnie manufacturer as it aspires to enter the rarefied, exalted, lofty heights of the outboard manufacturers’ club. And this folly-filled, ill-advised foray into the outboard arena bears the stunning moniker of “Vortex”. The dictionary describes a vortex as “a whirling mass”, but this escapade can only turn out to be “a worsening mess”.

So The Skipper’s advice to both parties (probably about as welcome as flatulence in a jammed lift but a stark reality nonetheless) is: Stay on subject and on message, chaps. Stick to what you know and the areas in which you are proficient, knowledgeable and confident. Sure, times are tight, but wouldn’t it be much better to test your mettle, resilience and competencies by consolidating and strengthening what you’re already doing rather than trying a rash, scattergun approach to snare as many potential buyers as possible? You add, change or misinterpret genres, segments and buyer demographics at your peril. If you have never operated in another sphere of your own industry before, it will be as alien to you as democracy to North Korea or a right-wing commentator getting a fair hearing on the ABC.

Finally, as for the pending development to which I alluded all those years ago (seems like it anyway, you say) in the opening paragraph, and which I shall fully address in the near future (when and if it transpires), this is in relation to proposed stringent, Draconian emissions standards for outboards. These regulations are purportedly hanging, sword-of-Damocles-like in the wings, ready to revolutionise (i.e. completely bugger) the way our industry does business. There is a strong rumour that these measures will make a controversial and jarring appearance – probably akin to seeing Benjamin Netanyahu leading Friday prayers at the Lakemba Mosque – sometime in 2012. By way of maintaining some continuity and putting things in some sort of context, it is only natural to point out that any such pending legislation will render the efforts of the two parties in this article completely, hopelessly and pointlessly futile. Why? Because price-point packages of all description (i.e. fitting cheap 2-stroke OBMs to make entry-level boats affordable) will be as distant a memory as smoking at the cinema.

Fear not, dear readers. All these subjects will be scrutinised by yours truly and revisited in the months ahead.