Obsolete boats

[petem]

Flicking through 'Squadron' (mag for Fairline owners) I noticed that the Squadron 52 and Targa 30 both appear to have been discontinued. This is after a mere two and a half years of production.

Still this is an absolute lifetime compared to Sealine. Whilst sitting on the bog recently I came across adverts (with Artist impressions) for an S40 and a T51 Bimini. Both being shown imminently at the next boat show. Can't recall seeing either of these mythical beasts!

 

[jfm]

Re: s52

S52 didn't sell well becuz only 2 cabins, though you could have the claustrophobic aft crew cabin and also specify bed in the util room to make it a 4 cabin. They told me it is to be discontinued but it's still on their new website fairline.com

JFM

 

[Guest]

Re: Obsolete boats, fairline mag

Chucked mine in bin a record 21 seconds after opeinng it. Full of landrover and crap hotel reviews.

The boatie manuf. have not realised what the car gang have done and kept family resemblance, and longevity of a model. Alright ahem, leaving Birchwood aside. But sunseeeker bring out another sized predator every year, and Fairline dumped the "eye" family of targas with the 43. Now they say that the "squadron range is complete". Duh? So what's the 74? Dunno abt the 30, spect a hammering at that end of the range.

 

[jfm]

Re: MBY reporting

The dozy line "Squadron range is now complete" comes from MBY I think on the current homepage. But I agree, it's totally crass. I mean, did the range have a bit missing before? They say the range is complete because there's a S58 alongside the 52 and 65 but DOH the 52 is finished and the 65 is long in the tooth and apparently unknown to MBY the 74 is tooled up and in build at Corby. No mention of 55 and 62. This is just dozy MBY reporting.



JFM

 

[jfm]

Re: fairline sizes

Re last sentence of Matts post above, wehn I did the Fairline workshop tour in May the CEO gave a speech and went out of his way to say that Fairline intends to continue to make boats for the entry level and small end of the range, low 30s feet. He was at great pains to emphasis this, saying would not "desert" this sector (as if to reassure some who had complained, though I didn't hear any complaints about size, only hull colours). He said strategy is to get folks to buy small, develop brand loyalty then trade up often within the fairline range

JFM

 

[Guest]

Re: noodle

Well that's a bit twonky isnit? Build cheap 30 footers and hope that we'll all be dead pleased to buy a 50 or 70 and do our own teak at the same time. No ta. This is even more barmy than a merc A-class, or a Porsche 924. Aspirational doesn't mean make a vacuum cleaner. They'd have done better to thin the range and extend further up, faster. Some say that Princess as part of same group stopped this, now proved as total garbage by upcoming 74 as direct competitor to Princess 22m. Over 100 targa 48 owners with (after 5 years) still no bigger model... so at last there's a um, 52. I droned on ad n. about a T60 3yrs ago.

 

[jfm]

Re: fathoming fairline

Agree the stepping stones are all over the place. As well as the t48 followed by t52, the squad range has 52,55,58,62,65. What's the point of such marginal differences? It's like doing a BMW 5-and-an-eighth series for 5 series owners who want to trade up, but only by an inch or two. Princess seem better at this. The Sq range was better spread a few years ago, 43, 50,56,65 if I recall.

Anyway, re the fact Princess and Fairline are owned by the same parent company, is there ever any evidence they compare notes or learn anything from each other or share any bits at all? I cant see any, they seem to behave totally independently. Why? Mazdas and Fords share bits where they're out of sight, but still keep separate brands.

JFM

 

[petem]

Re: noodle

Problem is that T30 isn't even that cheap any more. A Diesel one with the necessary extras will set you back £115k +.

Still, virtually every squadron owner I've met says he started with a 30 footer.

 

[Guest]

Re: noodle

Well colour me twonky! I've just bought a T29, I can't afford to spend more on cutlery than boating, so I did my own decking. That brings me £2k closer to upgrading, and assuming that f'line don't piss me off or become unaffordable, I'll get another f'line. That's where the easy money always is - existing customers, not trying to poach from a competitor/sister company. And I agree that f'line and p'cess not sharing stuff is 1) criminal and 2) typical of British industry.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Re: fathoming fairline

Yup, if there is any strategy here, marketing or otherwise, its completely undetectable to the naked eye. Neither company seems to have addressed the basic conundrum of defining their target customers and developing a strategy to suit seeming to employ a scattergun approach which probably only results in one taking market share from the other. Fairly typical of UK plc though
Answers on a postcard please
' Analyse and discuss differences between typical Fairline and Princess new boat buyers'

 

[Guest]

Just read that bit of the mag. It also seems that the T48 is now obsolete, as is the S52. Either that, or they were constrained by the layout to show only four boats from each range (and coincidentally, there ARE only four Phantoms...)

 

[Guest]

S52 bit of a dead loss, 350k for 2 cabins.

Yup, last T48 is December. Pity really, T52 looks much worse layout, don't much see the point in upgrading tiny amount. T48 still looks good and sells 1/fortnight since mid-96 launch. Seems half the BB would buy a remodelled Turbo36, whereas tiny numbers bought the yukky 43AC.

Range shd be t29 (praps actually bigger but hehe) then 35 or 36 instead or nookie-free 34, 40, 43 since it's there but wd have been better as 44 and a touch lower/wider to avoid currently woah falling-over feel underway, then 48, and 60 (or 62 or 58 but they've had a hull for ages). Much better.

Not too familar with flyb.s but why not call all of them squadrons anyway?

 

[Guest]

What about t30, t36, t42, t50, p38, p44, p50, squaddie whatever?

Gives you a better spread of open boats up to 50', and fly's from as small as is feasible.

Think the Phantom is a poor man's Squaddie, but why they differentiate, I have no idea. Now watch that set 'em off...

 

[Guest]

Nearly agreed, cept need a bigger open boat to at least 60'. Dealers told me that Princess V65 is part of same group , hence won't let F go bigger. But surely utter twaddle - Princes V42 and F'line T43 compete head-on for a while now.

Can they all have leather in your new range please? And no mud-coloured avonite? Ooh and will we be able to on the boat at boat shows instead of being told to sod off or come back later. This will be truly groundbreaking.

 

[Guest]

Come, on, they can't even make dark blue grp ones, never mind leather. How do you caulk the seams in a leather boat? Can you get fake leather? Is it cheaper? Could I fit it myself?