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Old 12-24-2009, 11:51 AM   #21
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Grand Banks vs. ?

Quote:
sunchaser wrote:

But where in GB today is a trawler with fuel efficiency and "near"displacement design?
I had a chance not long ago to hear directly from GB why this is the case.* In their view, there is no viable market for this type of boat anymore.* At least not a high-profit market.* Their market--- and they do have a very viable one--- wants things very different than what people wanted in the GB32, 36, 42 days.* They cannot build, they said, these kinds of boats with the quality they want to build them with, and sell them for any sort of profit.* This is what finally killed the GB36.* It simply cost too much to manufacture and to make any money on it, they had to price it higher than people--- even wealthy people--- were willing to pay for a 36' boat.* They even tried making a GB36 "Lite" in the early 2000s--- a sort of stripped down, simplified GB36.* The then-dealer in our marina sold one of them.* But even then GB could not sell them competitively.* So they terminated the model.

Yes, there are lots of people who bemoan the demise of the "dependable diesel cruiser" which is how GBs were marketed in the heyday of their previous models (GB has never called their boats "trawlers.")* But despite all the gnashing of teeth and the predictions that GB is doing themselves in by abandoning this "market" the reality is that this market no longer exists.* All the people bemoaning the demise of the "classic" GBs have old ones.** They are in no more position to buy a new GB than I am.* You can't make money offering products to people who want them but can't afford to buy them.

So while GB is happy to sell boats in the US and certainly makes an effort to do so, they (I'm told) no longer view the US as their primary market.* Regions I have seen described as their primary areas of interest are tne Middle East, Russia, China (PRC), and Southeast Asia.* Outside of the current economic worldwide slump, which is showing signs of recovery now, these regions are where the big money is (and big profits).* In Xiamen, China, where I spent a couple of months this year, property development firms are creating huge residential-marina complexes, massive things with dredged-out lagoons, big individual homes and condo-style residences, marinas, etc.* These developments are advertised on billboards all over the island, as are several major boat builders.* Sea Ray billboards are all over the place as are----- Grand Banks billboards.* And of course, the Nordhavn plant is in Xiamen.* Factory-direct pricing

Sure, there are a lot of affordable trawler-type boats being made.* But in these new markets, from what I've observed and been told by people who live in these regions, you don't buy a Chevy if you have or can beg, borrow, or steal the money to buy a Porsche.

So the boats GB builds today are tailored for the buyers in these areas, not so much the US and Canada.* The principle requirements in these "new money" regions is speed, flash, status, and brand recognition.* The road traffic in Xiamen, which is a very fast-growing city and has vehicle traffic comparable to almost any same-size US city, is comprised almost entirely of new vehicles. * There are lots of VWs, Lexus, Volvo and other similar up-market brands.* There are also tons of Land Rover Discoveries (called the LR3 in the US), Range Rovers, and Porsches.* Xiamen has a Bentley dealership, a Ferrari dealership, and a Maserati dealership and you see these things on the road in course of a day's driving around.

Hence the pod-drive GB41, the fast GB47, and the Aleutian.* From what I gather from the GB owners forum there are more sales of new GBs even in Europe now than in the US.* The "dependable diesel cruiser" days, at least for Grand Banks, are over.* They have chosen to leave that market to the low-cost Chinese builders.* Whether this proves to be a smart move in the long run remains to be seen, but given the rapidly shifting movement of wealth on the planet, I would say it is providing they can continue to create the kind of boats the people in these markets who can afford to buy them want.* What seems to be a "confusing" lineup of boats to people here apparently makes all sorts of sense to the people who are actually in a position to buy these boats.* And for the* most part, they are not in the US.



-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 24th of December 2009 02:01:07 PM
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