Quote:
Originally Posted by tre
I found the info about cobalt surf boat sales info in Boating Industry magazine. The article is 2 years old at this point. The CEO of Cobalt was quoted talking about their surf boats. Quote: "It’s not a one-trick pony,” said Cobalt CEO Paxson St. Clair. “We’ve had tremendous feedback from our dealers on the success they’ve had with our new Surf Series product with the Volvo Penta Forward Drives. Now, the surf boats represent about one-third of our production, and we’re forecasting it to be almost half of our production as we move forward.”
Here is the link to the online article: https://boatingindustry.com/top-stor...st-five-years/
BTW, Cobalt is owned my Malibu in case anyone did not know this. Malibu acquired Cobalt about 1.5 years ago.
|
1/3 of production in 2016 doesn’t come close to meaning 1/2 of current sales BTW. That was a tongue in cheek production forecast, and I would be shocked if true. They seem to sell very few Cobalt surf boats. For surfing, they suck in a relative sense. Granted our dealer is an n of 1, but it’s a top 5 dealer nonetheless. They sell a few a year, and sell a buttload of huge bowriders, some of which are $300k 302s. That would skew sales toward bowriders quite a bit. For real surfers, they sell Skier’s Choice AND Nautique. It’s a big shop.
The VDrive market has responded nicely with “everyday” boat amenities that takes the wind out of the forward drive story. They aren’t one trick ponies, either. They’re controllable, big, deep, and comfortable. And getting moreso each year.