View Single Post
Old 05-03-2012, 01:30 PM   #16
Belmont Resident
Senior Member
 
Belmont Resident's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Belmont NH but prefer Jackman Maine
Posts: 1,857
Thanks: 491
Thanked 409 Times in 251 Posts
Default maybe so

Quote:
Originally Posted by BroadHopper View Post
I think you will find a big 'shake up/down' in the industry. Current economic trends and politics will see the marina shifting brands in the hope for more profits. You will notice almost all large marinas are selling pontoon boats. A big shift from hulls as you can carry more passengers for the buck.

Formulas are great boats. At one time you could get a beautiful Formula from 17' to 25'. I don't think they sell a boat under 26'. The market has shift more to boats less than or equal to 25'. A good reason for LL to shift from Formulas to Chris Craft and pontoon boats.

Irwin Marine was the de facto Chris Craft dealer in NE. At one time Chris Craft was sold to a conglomerate and shared hulls with Crownline, quality also was way below standards. Irwin Marine dropped the Chris Craft line.

LL did have a large inventory of Formulas. A good reason not to carry the brand if you can't sell them. Prior to 2008, a dealer has to buy a certain number of boats and put them on inventory in order to sell the brand. This is a huge liability to the marinas. I heard today the manufacturers have put some slack to this requirement.

There is a huge loyalty to LL and LL continues to be loyal to Formula owners.
But from my understanding the franchise was lost because Formula pulled the plug not the other way around. The whole incident on the lake caused way to much negative publicity due to the Formula name being splashed all over the news media.
That is what I was told from a reliable source and it makes total sense.
__________________
"better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, then a long life spent in a miserable way.."
Belmont Resident is offline   Reply With Quote