BRP To Stop Building Sport Boats

[Kevin Turner]

BRP TO EXIT SPORT BOAT MARKET

Valcourt, Québec, September 14, 2012– BRP today announced it will exit the sport boat business over the coming months, citing the continued global sales decline in the marine industry, particularly the drop in sales of sport boats since the financial crisis.

“This is a difficult but necessary decision for BRP,” said José Boisjoli, president and CEO. “We worked hard to grow our sport boat business through a serious sales decline that began in 2007. But now, we must focus our research and development resources and capital investments in areas of our business that offer greater growth potential.”

BRP entered the boat manufacturing business in 1994 and purchased the assets of Celebrity Boats in 1995, at which time it moved its facility to Benton, Illinois.

"We looked for a buyer for our sport boat business, but that effort proved unsuccessful," Boisjoli added. "Consequently, we decided not to resume production of the upcoming model year due to seasonal production planning requirements."

All impacted employees will receive a good transition package.

BRP will continue to provide parts and honour warranties for its customers.


Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP), a privately held company, is a world leader in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of motorised recreational vehicles. Its portfolio of brands and products includes: Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea‑Doo watercraft and boats, Evinrude and Johnsonoutboard engines, Can-Am all‑terrain and side-by-side vehicles and roadsters, as well as Rotax engines. BRP products are distributed in more than 100 countries.

www.brp.com

Sea-Doo, Ski-Doo, Lynx, Evinrude, Johnson, Can-Am, Rotax and the BRP logo are trademarks of Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. or its affiliates.

[BottomsUp]

but they have jobs,they have jobs......
http://www.brp.com/en-us/careers/current-opportunities

[Team Shadow by Image]

Too Many Law suits...... quaility issues, dump and Run sales

[Instigator]

I wonder if it has anything to do with their two employees killed while testing a PWC. Two guys on a PWC run over by their own boat. Killed both on the PWC.

[racerx]

They just closed a place down in southern IL,read it in the paper 300 hundred people with out jobs...

[Riverman]

but they have jobs,they have jobs......
http://www.brp.com/en-us/careers/current-opportunities

It is not at all uncommon for a company to lay off and hire at the same time. Most likely different skillsets are needed.

[Instigator]

BRP decision signals big shift in strategy

The decision by Bombardier Recreational Products to exit the sportboat business and shut down its Illinois plant, eliminating 350 jobs, was the second major decision the company has made as it strategically addresses its marine products.



In May, the company announced that it will transfer the assembly line of its watercraft from Valcourt, Quebec, to a new plant to be built in Mexico.
BRP also will stop producing its own accessories and clothes and contract out the distribution of spare parts, according to The Globe and Mail in Toronto.
The company invented the snowmobile and made a killing with its Sea-Doo watercraft. It started producing sportboats 18 years ago. But sales of the jet-driven boats, often used to water-ski, have not bounced back after the recession as cautious American consumers continue to put off nonessential spending.
BRP tried to sell the plant in Benton, Ill., that it inherited through its 1995 acquisition of Celebrity, but it couldn’t find a buyer.
The sportboat business represents 3 percent of the company’s sales, BRP public affairs vice president Pierre Pichette told the paper.
The company stopped disclosing its revenue after the Bombardier unit was bought out in 2003 by a consortium led by U.S. private equity fund Bain Capital. Bain partnered with the family of Laurent Beaudoin, who transformed Bombardier into a transportation multinational, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Quebec’s biggest pension fund manager.
In a 2011 interview with the paper, BRP president and CEO Jose Boisjoli was hopeful that annual sales would recover all of the ground lost during the recession by 2013 and reach the $2.8 billion mark again. BRP’s revenue crashed 40 percent within six months of the Lehman Brothers collapse.
The difficult days clearly are not behind BRP, whose plans to return to the stock market after a five-year restructuring have been delayed. It is now pinning its future on the design of high-end power-sports vehicles such as the Spyder, a three-wheeled roadster it launched in 2007.
After the layoffs are taken into account, BRP employs 6,500 people, 3,000 based in Quebec, according to Pichette.

[RobF]

meanwhile Sea Ray will be selling jet boats again, 21'&24'

the sea doos were pretty crappy boats

[engineermike]

This is depressing. I was an outboard mechanic and now own a couple. I've also owned 2 Sea-Doo RXP's. The 4-tec engine/jet drive is a fantastic combo, offering outstanding acceleration and reliability. I ran my RXP's for years and they always started easy and never gave me any trouble - something I can't say about an outboard of any brand. The engine/supercharger/jet pump is a lightweight and simple design with few moving parts. The boats had 1-2 of these engines, so I can only imagine they would be very reliable also. And with a pair of 255's available, it would have to accelerate like crazy. The fuel economy sucks, though. I'm still surprised this is happening.

[Adam McKeon]

A good friend of mine runs a company who is now sitting on 2 million of worthless product for BRP..... Sucks

[Fred111]

Any one else hear this I read it today online hope it's not true they make a great boat!!