Boat model year issue surfaces again
LAS VEGAS – Following a vote among attendees of the Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA) Convention in Las Vegas late last month, the MRAA has sent a letter to Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), concerning the model year introduction of boat product.
In the letter, MRAA expressed “the need for our industry to move the model year away from the peak selling season of summer to a September 1 launch date.”
It noted that “Bill McGill, chairman of MarineMax, announced that Brunswick has also agreed with this change, and I’m sure we will all remember that Irwin Jacobs of Genmar pushed for this change a few years ago, but he didn’t want to be the lone ranger without the support of others.”
Among the benefits it pointed out in the letter was allowing “dealers to relieve their inventories and keep the dealers in their dealerships during the peak selling season rather than at dealer meetings.”
“This year is the best time to ensure the dealers financial strength by reducing the amount of non-current carryover,” it added.
MRAA concluded by asking NMMA to “support this movement by Brunswick and Genmar by requesting all of your member boat manufacturers to change the model year to September 1 for the 2009 model year line.”
- For more of the latest news, click here.