What Happened? (Opportunity lost)

[Twister_Ken]

Volume production

I'm sure X-Yachts were also very much helped out of the starting blocks by the fact that the X99 became almost a de-facto one design cruiser racer in several places, so they sold boats by the fleet load. Whether this was planned, or a happy accident I don't know.

Similarly the earlier, smaller Bennies and Jennies were bought in volume by the likes of Sunsail. If you know you've got an order book for 40 or 50 boats of the same model, it allows you to gear up a proper production line, use cheaper staff with fewer skills, negotiate equipment deals, drive down costs and win more orders, etc.

 

[jimi]

Missing the point

I think everbody is completely missing the real point here. No one is complaining about the build quality or the build cost of British boats. What was wrong was that they did not understand the new boat market. These companies were run by people steeped in the marine industry who made boats they liked because they thought everybody else would like them. As a consequence they had a very poor market position being squeezed between the true niche market - HR,Najad etc and the mass producers. Consequently they could compete with neither and we see the consequences .. IMHO of course.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Morgan cars perhaps!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Oyster, Moodys, Northshore (Fisher, Southerly,Vancover, Sigma) etc all doing well. Moodys range start at 38ft and go to 64ft in 1986 the range started at 28ft and went to 47ft. When I asked Moodys why they evaluated if they wanted to compromise quality for price and decided they didn't hence the range today. They have a long back order book for the current range. I am told that Oyster, Northshore are in a similar state, so not all bad news.

We are all price sensitive, I would have liked to buy an HR40 or Najad 400 but at another £100k I settled for my Moody and very well pleased with it I am !!!

Pete

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by peter_gough on 13/09/2002 09:25 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[david_e]

Re: X - Yachts

Good point, the only problem is that they hold their value well so I can't have one!

 

[JeremyF]

Thats the key point, Pete. Its a compromise at every price point, just like houses.

The ideal house is always 25% above one's budget!

<font color=blue>Jeremy Flynn/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
Dawn Chorus</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

Not every time, we downsized to buy a bigger boat!!!!!

 

[billmacfarlane]

The way things are going they'll end up our highest volume car manufacturer. Now there's a thought !!!!

 

[Guest]

Only if I am allowed another one in BRG!!!!

 

[billmacfarlane]

Yep. The French and German boat builders took a long hard look at the market and designed and supplied boats based on what the market was demanding i.e most of us coast hop at weekends with a 2/3 week summer holiday if we're lucky. They supplied and are supplying boats that fit the bill at a price that a lot of people can afford. Sounds simple doesn't it ? It's not but they got their market spot on.

 

[billmacfarlane]

Re: X Yachts

It's the old story again of knowing your market. Westerly boats , whatever your opinion of them bear no resemblance to X yachts. Westerlies were built as no nonsense cruisers on the whole , whereas X Yachts are a lot more performance orientated , more racer-cruiser than cruiser-racer. The fact that they rose in almost the same manner as Westerly fell maybe tells us something about what the market is demanding.
When I test sailed the Malo 36 , I asked the sales guy why Swedish boats were gaining in popularity. He said that 3 years ago there was 11 Swedish Kroner to the pound and now there are 15 , meaning of course that they were relatively more affordable. They might not be after/if we join the Euro , which is one reason I bought mine when I did.

 

[nicho]

Great reply James, sums it up perfectly - and how many other great British Industries ahve gone the same way?

 

[nicho]

There is probably no doubt that the older British boats (Sadler.Westerley etc) were built like brick outhouses, and will go on for years. However, whilst I have no facts to back the following view up, I'm sure the vast majority of the UK boating market is made up of those who lightly cruise their boats locally, with no desire to hammer the life out of them whilst pushing them to their very limits. Surely then, the French/German manufacturers have got it just right - they produce attractive packages at very competitive prices, boats which suit most people down to the ground. This makes an uncomfortable situation for those who have older boats and who try to achieve what they feel is a "realistic" price for them when it's time to sell on. I've just ordered a Bavaria 36 at the Show, fully loaded with just about every extra known to man, and it cost £70K. There are those that will scoff at these 'lightweight' foreigners, but for the likes of me, they are perfect, (and as Bavaria alone sell approaching 2000 boats a year, it seems they are perfect for others as well). I'm sure there will now be a chorus of those that tell me to 'just wait until I get caught in heavy weather etc etc', but I'm very happy with my purchase thank you.....

 

[nicho]

So did we two years ago - sad to say after 6 months we could not cope with the trade off in house size, so we sold the boat and bought two apartments to let - they've made so much money in the past 18 months, we've now sold them, moved back into a bigger house and bought another boat - it does sometimes go the right way!!

 

[charles_reed]

Certainly an opportunity lost - but by the sailing yacht builders not motor yachts where the UK has one of the world's leading industries.

The reasons:

Underlying reason - lack of marketing
Leading to - inadequate volume production
Exacerbated by - appallingly incompetent management, bad QAS, UK cyclic economy.

 

[FlyingSpud]

The real problem was that the British market was no, in itself, big enough and the British manufacturers did not think on a European scale, unlike the French, Germans and Swedes. I am not certain, but suspect that most boat sales in Europe are in the Med. Bav/Ben/Jen produce for that market rather than the north sea.
Nobody has mentioned Legend (Hunter USA) now being built in the UK. Could this be a case, like the Car industry, of a foreign concern coming to the UK and showing it can be done?
I should say that I am no fan of the lightweight Bav/Ben/Jen school, I have seen a few of them recently as between boats, and would prefer a 15 year old Moody/Westerly/HR etc, the resale prices suggest that the market is with me, but it will be interesting to see if a company producing on much the same lines with a British base can make a go of it.