Seastoke
Well-known member
There must be ten sc in our marina how many in your ,so how come they went bust.
Sealine sc,s
- Thread starter Seastoke
- Start date
kashurst
Well-known member
as I understand it sealine were doing pretty well before they were taken over by an American Company. At that time sealine owned most of their dealers so didn't need the dealers to make much profit. This kept prices competitive and allowed for good deals on upgrades through the range. When they were taken over this sales model was abandoned and new independant dealers found who wanted a much better margin, no surprise there.
This slowed sales and then the recession hit hard. About the only thing you can do in a business like that at bad times is slash your costs fast (sorry for any ex sealine staff reading this). So lay off lots of staff quickly but keep enough to build a much lower level of orders and hopefully design new ideas, make productivity improvements etc for when funds and the market allow so you can come out fighting when things improve.
The combination of a different sales model and not cutting deep enough and fast enough finished them. The SC 35 was their best selling model ever (I think). On the upside I understand (second hand info) quite a few ex sealine staff went to Jaguar Land Rover who are doing really well at the moment. As a sealine fan its a massive shame they folded as Sealine, what ever you thought about the boats, brought a lot of innovation into the industry.
This slowed sales and then the recession hit hard. About the only thing you can do in a business like that at bad times is slash your costs fast (sorry for any ex sealine staff reading this). So lay off lots of staff quickly but keep enough to build a much lower level of orders and hopefully design new ideas, make productivity improvements etc for when funds and the market allow so you can come out fighting when things improve.
The combination of a different sales model and not cutting deep enough and fast enough finished them. The SC 35 was their best selling model ever (I think). On the upside I understand (second hand info) quite a few ex sealine staff went to Jaguar Land Rover who are doing really well at the moment. As a sealine fan its a massive shame they folded as Sealine, what ever you thought about the boats, brought a lot of innovation into the industry.
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The "Brunswick" phase didn't go well, but getting taken over venture capitalists was the final nail in the coffin: they pulled back just at the moment when a cash injection and strong management would have helped. They saw the books, their man was onsite: he knew exactly what was going to happen.
PowerYachtBlog
Well-known member
The Sealine SC was very popular in the UK, but outside Britain its success was mild. We have half a dozen S34 here and about three S37s, we have only 1 SC35 which is German owned, and while I personally like it, all the people whom I speak to hate it.
As a comparison I can tell you we have 5 38 Targas, and 6 Atlantis 35, 3 Beneteau 35 MC. With this assessment you can see that the SC35 is not a much appreciated boat internationally.
As a comparison I can tell you we have 5 38 Targas, and 6 Atlantis 35, 3 Beneteau 35 MC. With this assessment you can see that the SC35 is not a much appreciated boat internationally.
U4
Member
Didn't they also spend a lot of money unsuccesfully trying to break in to the US market, I am sure that can't have helped with the financial situation?
rafiki_
Well-known member
There are lots of nice Sealines at Portishead, including 2 SC35's which I think look great. There's an SC 42 I think too.
jrudge
Well-known member
They had a lot of space for their size, but as far as I know it was the SC35 that sold ... and making money from small boats is tricky.
The Sealine brand did not really support the bigger boats against the competition of Princess / Sunseeker / Fairline so whilst nice boats would someone drop £1m on one ... I would imagine probably not.
They had some terrific innovations in design, but that also was probably a bit marmite - you like it or you dont.
The big boats can make serious money for the manufacturer, but the return on smaller vessels in what is a highly capital intensive industry I would imagine was their downfall.
The Sealine brand did not really support the bigger boats against the competition of Princess / Sunseeker / Fairline so whilst nice boats would someone drop £1m on one ... I would imagine probably not.
They had some terrific innovations in design, but that also was probably a bit marmite - you like it or you dont.
The big boats can make serious money for the manufacturer, but the return on smaller vessels in what is a highly capital intensive industry I would imagine was their downfall.
