Boat Buyers Stay Loyal in Cooling Economy

Pleasure boats in 2000 gave up a stingy one percent of new unit sales to 578,000, but continued a decade-long expansion of discretionary spending by Americans to $25.5 billion, a 15 percent gain on the previous year. In its annual review of the marine market, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) charted strong gains in the inboard motor cruiser and mid-range sail market, joined by moderate advances in outboard family and fishing models. Across all lines, models which performed best were better equipped and at the higher-end of the pricing spectrum, a scenario in place for the past five years.

"Despite economic challenges including declining stocks and consumer confidence linked to increasing interest rates and energy costs, American boaters stayed the course for most of 2000," noted Thom Dammrich, NMMA president. "Domestic boat manufacturers are closely monitoring retail sales and adjusting production where necessary, but many still have a strong backlog of orders." Economic factors that erode discretionary income, the primary fuel of pleasure boat sales, affect the smaller and more modest portion of the market, but historically do not impact the larger or highly-equipped craft. Dammrich notes, "People buy boats to escape stress and to get away from on-land cares, and the enjoyment of boating is as strong today as ever, so this may have provided the industry with an extra support element in the last model year."

Top-of-lines gain best

Upscale inboard motor cruisers led the power market, advancing 14 percent to 8,000 units and 31 percent in retail value to $2.3 billion. Inboard runabouts (water ski and wakeboarding boats) were next, up 9 percent to 13,200 units and 10 percent in value to $341 million. On the sailing side, recent gains have more than tripled production in the past decade from 8,500 to an estimated 28,000 annual unit sales with the 46- to 59-foot category leading the latest advance with 139 percent growth.

In the largest class, outboard boats advanced a solid five percent in units to 241,600 while outboard motors also gained five percent to 348,700. Sterndrive boat makers gave up four percent to settle at 78,000 units, canoes dropped eight percent to 112,000, and personal watercraft were off 13 percent to 92,000. Overall, the gains outpaced the declines to maintain the recreational fleet in the U.S. at 16.9 million boats and the number of participants at 72.3 million.

Consumers buying new boats and marine equipment continued a trend of buying more, better equipped and more technologically enhanced products. Estimated retail unit prices increased across the board. Average unit cost for an outboard boat and motor rose eight percent to $17,700; inboard motor cruisers advanced 14 percent to $293,700; sterndrive boat prices were up 11 percent to $28,600; personal watercraft are now $7,800, up seven percent. Estimated average for the brisk-selling 46-foot plus sailboat is $575,000 (not estimated in previous years). In the pre-owned boat market, which NMMA just began tracking, the average used boat and motor sold for approximately $8,000. The pre-owned market provides entry for many consumers new to boating, often at savings of one-half for late model boats, and accounted for 985,000 unit sales in all categories last year.

Where does the boat manufacturing community think the market is headed short term? "We are hopeful for nothing worse than a soft landing by the economy and a resurgence of demand for boats and boating products in the coming year," summarizes Dammrich. Pointing to research that indicates more than eight million American families have expressed a strong interest to become boat owners, he adds, "We have programs in place to help these prospects buy and enjoy boats."

NMMA is the national voice of the recreational boating industry, representing nearly 1,500 companies that produce more than 80 percent of the recreational boating products in North America. The core activities of NMMA are divided into public education, industry coordination, and compliance and certification. Headquartered in Chicago, NMMA also has a legislative office in D.C. and regional field offices in Miami, New Orleans, New York, St. Louis, San Diego and Toronto, and employs approximately 120 professionals. Its Web site address is http://www.discoverboating.com .



Posted: 1-4-2001