Protector has a new owner

ribfan · 15 September 2007, 16:08

Hot off the press,

Brunswick Corp has purchased Rayglass in New Zealand. Rayglass is the maker of the Protector boats. That means with Valiant, Brunswick now owns two RHIB makers. Now that they have them, wonder what's next.
Mercury seems to have had little or no impact here in the states with the rebranded Valiants, let's see what they do with Protector. Tomorrow I'll be at the Newport RI Boat show. Protector usually shows there, wonder what they will say.

Bill

www.eclecticwonders.com uncommon art

codprawn · 15 September 2007, 17:35

I am sure a RIB explosion in the USA is about to take place!!!

ribfan · 16 September 2007, 02:17

Codders,

Being that a base 23' boat with a 150 hp runs about $75,000. US dollars and the larger boats are six figures and up, I don't think at present they are much of a factor in any boating market. The issue is the continued consolidation of ownership. No different than Fords ownership of Jaguar. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. Sometimes the consumer comes out ahead with a better product as in the case of Jaguar, other times they get less choices for more money. Sometime a good product suffers from lack of proper promotion.

Bill

www.eclecticwonders.com uncommon art

codprawn · 16 September 2007, 03:07

i would have thought Brunswick would have the sense to start production in the USA which would bring costs down a bit - then again maybe not!!!

GuyP · 16 September 2007, 11:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribfan

The issue is the continued consolidation of ownership. No different than Fords ownership of Jaguar. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. Sometimes the consumer comes out ahead with a better product as in the case of Jaguar, other times they get less choices for more money. Sometime a good product suffers from lack of proper promotion.

Except in the car industry you can gain economies of scale through joint platform and engine development and production sites. However, this doesn't seem to be the Brunswick model.

I imagine that they see Rayglass as a low-ish volume, high quality manufacturer (the RIB version of their Boston Whaler brand) to add to their brand portfolio. They can then increase Mercury / Mercruiser sales through only providing their own brand engines on Rayglass and use their global marketing and back-office functions to increase Rayglass' production volumes and margin

bogib · 16 September 2007, 11:11

Would be interested to see what Boston Whaler will be showing at the police conference in New Orleans in October..... I shall be there

Bogi