Britain’s Booming Powerboat Industry Sets Course Toward U.S. Market

LONDON —  Britain’s small but booming powerboat industry is riding a wave of success toward the American market.

“We are hoping to find a market for high-quality, high-performance, stylish boats,” said Hans Wallberg, export liaison manager of one of the United Kingdom’s top powerboat manufacturers, Sunseeker International, which is leading the way across the Atlantic.

The North American market--the largest in the world--has long been a difficult area for British boat builders to penetrate, but Wallberg hopes that English craftsmanship will meet the challenge.

“We are not Americanizing the product,” he said. “We are selling a prestigious British product in much the same way as Jaguar does its cars.”

In a small-boat industry that last year contributed $157 million (100 million pounds) to the British balance of trade, the power-cruiser sector is surging. Exports of luxury British-made powerboats more than doubled in value between 1985 and 1988, from $54.5 million to $121.4 million.

“Throughout the 1980s, the United Kingdom boat market has followed a progressively upward path which shows little sign of tailing off,” said Peter Gregory, chairman of the British Marine Industries Federation’s marketing committee. “Power-cruiser builders are reaping the richest rewards, with 70% of boats exported.”

The British may be enviously eyeing American shores, but the Americans are already over there--in bulk.

The weak dollar had, until recently, made U.S. boat prices very competitive in Europe, and U.S. dealers have made the most of it. “The United States dominates 80% of the world powerboat market,” Wallberg said, but he sees a positive side to the American invasion of Europe.

“They have opened markets that we haven’t been able to reach because we’re not big enough,” he said. “They have helped the market grow--something we would hope to exploit in future.”

Meanwhile, Sunseeker has crossed the ocean and set up a production company in Canada in an attempt to find a niche in the American market. Their factory just outside Montreal has started making two Sunseekers, the Mohawk 29 and the Martinique 36.

“Americans are selling low-priced into Europe,” Wallberg said. “We will try and sell high-priced, quality boats in the United States.”

The 29-footer starts at about $121,000 while the 36-footer starts at $182,000, the company said.

Compelling financial reasons made a trans-Atlantic move a necessity. “Marketing practices in the United States are vastly different to those of Europe,” Wallberg said.

“There’s the problem of fluctuating exchange rates, which recently have been rarely favorable. And most important, base equipment, such as engines, which represent a high proportion of each unit’s cost, are much cheaper in the United States than they are here in Europe. We just couldn’t have competed from England.”

Initial reaction to their product has been encouraging, according to Wallberg. “The first demonstration boats for America have just been completed, and indications are favorable,” he said.

“With the size of the North American market,” he said, “it is quite possible that production on the other side of the Atlantic will before long outstrip that of our British base.”