Marine Max Acquires Crusiers Yachts

[Blueone]

How long before MM owns the Brunswick brands or puts them out of business?

Not a prediction but a conversation topic?

The only company I hated more than Marine Max was Skipper buds…. I don’t think I am alone out there but then again maybe it’s just me. I have no respect for MM…. If they want to take down Sea Ray so be it…. When they run out of customers they will get their pay back

 

[TonyQSC500]

MM tried to buy SR back in 18' but brunswick wanted more than MM offered.
Imo MM is who ruined SR not Brunswick.
So if they now own SR's competitor does that mean they will no longer sell SR's? I mean how could Brunswick let their number one dealer sell their competitor. Do you really think MM will push someone else's boat as much as their own? If Brunswick is dumb enough to not pull SR from MM then they deserve the consequences.

 

[MonacoMike]

MM tried to buy SR back in 18' but brunswick wanted more than MM offered.
Imo MM is who ruined SR not Brunswick.
So if they now own SR's competitor does that mean they will no longer sell SR's? I mean how could Brunswick let their number one dealer sell their competitor. Do you really think MM will push someone else's boat as much as their own? If Brunswick is dumb enough to not pull SR from MM then they deserve the consequences.

I liked this but what exactly are they going head to head on? We have to face it SR is a small bowrider company with a couple of small cruisers now. Cruisers Yachts is a big boat company building to 60 feet with a few bowriders. Where is the competition there?

 

[RBB]

MM tried to buy SR back in 18' but brunswick wanted more than MM offered.
Imo MM is who ruined SR not Brunswick.
So if they now own SR's competitor does that mean they will no longer sell SR's? I mean how could Brunswick let their number one dealer sell their competitor. Do you really think MM will push someone else's boat as much as their own? If Brunswick is dumb enough to not pull SR from MM then they deserve the consequences.

I think u nailed it sir. Will sit back and watch.

 

[TTG]

MM tried to buy SR back in 18' but brunswick wanted more than MM offered.
Imo MM is who ruined SR not Brunswick.
So if they now own SR's competitor does that mean they will no longer sell SR's? I mean how could Brunswick let their number one dealer sell their competitor. Do you really think MM will push someone else's boat as much as their own? If Brunswick is dumb enough to not pull SR from MM then they deserve the consequences.

How did MM ruin Searay? Isn’t Brunswick the one who ultimately decided to change Searays overall direction? Please correct me…serious question.

 

[Blueone]

How did MM ruin Searay? Isn’t Brunswick the one who ultimately decided to change Searays overall direction? Please correct me…serious question.

Marine max ruined Searay for me….when we went through that 2008 shit show caused by Clinton… Searay shoved inventory down small multi generation dealers that couldn’t afford it….to pick up the pieces was marine max …….
This year I walked into a marine max dealer for the first time in years the Thursday before the July 4th weekend …desperate…looking for replacements for both of my AC units… bad story.
Talked to the service manager at his desk for half an hour…. He said okay $4300 will be here next Tuesday.(after the long weekend)… He wanted my credit card… I said I don’t even know the make model or size…. he said don’t worry. I said no give me the make model so I can see if they will fit and what the plumbing issues will be. This guy looked at me and said “why would I do that?”…. I said what?…. He said if I give you all the info you will just go shop it on line after all my effort and get a cheaper price…. I said I am now and walked out…. Will never do business withMarine max …..ever

 

[PlayDate]

Brunswick plays a much bigger game than Sea Ray which is why they wanted to sell it back in 2018.
Two decisions loom large for Brunswick:

1) In search of profits, they made a strategic decision to use Marine Max for Sales and Service without an exclusive in early 2000. This has wrecked Sea Ray and will ultimately end in the demise of the brand.

2) Brunswick owns Mercruiser. By getting out of the boat building business they can specifically focus on selling more mechanicals to other boat builders without the channel conflict and make more profit. That is the direction they are on.

Marine Max is a public company that has been growing year over year by acquiring and servicing more brands. Yes the other brands should learn a lesson from what happened to Sea Ray but they won't. Marine Max controls the ground game in the US. No boat manufacturer has deep enough pockets to replicate what they have in place for recreational boats.

Can Sea Ray be saved? While I haven't looked at the latest financials.....Sea Ray loses money especially with the internal Mercruiser inter-company transactions. One Sea Ray employee told me: "they pay the same or more for drives and outboards that Mercruiser sells to their competitors".

There is no strategy in that except to exit the business.

Sea Ray is a discontinued business for Brunswick. If they really cared about the brand they would help the experienced Sea Ray employees do a leveraged buyout. Then it would at least stand a chance of negotiating new deals and leveraging what remains of their dealership network.

 

[TonyQSC500]

My family and I have had good luck with our local MM but most of the people we delt with in the past are no longer there. I have heard horror stories recently from others who have delt with them. Its a shame really.

I have not heard a good thing about peoples experience with other locations of MM. If there are enough bad experiences with the only dealership people will stop buying from them which means less SR sales. That is one way the ruined SR.

 

[tc410]

How did MM ruin Searay? Isn’t Brunswick the one who ultimately decided to change Searays overall direction? Please correct me…serious question.

One of the big issues was that Sea Ray was almost exclusive with MM but MM wasn’t exclusive with Sea Ray. As I understood it, other lines that MM sold (azimut and a few other foreign brands) were offering a bigger piece to MM to push their large boat product. If you’re MM, or a salesman at MM, you’d start pushing the product that brought higher revenue - and that wasn’t Sea Ray.