Iconic Marine Group relaunching several boat brands

Iconic Marine Group, formerly Custom Marine Group, has announced plans to restructure several boat brands, including Baja Marine, Donzi, Donzi Classic, Fountain Powerboats and Pro-Line.

Joe Curran, former managing partner at Crest Marine, has been named COO of IMG, based in the Washington, N.C., facility. Curran was part of the team that relaunched the Crest pontoon brand in 2010. He left the company in 2014. Curran has worked for a number of other brands during a 30-year career, including Brunswick, Wellcraft and Chris-Craft.

“I’m excited to join the team at IMG,” Curran said. “The brands are, without a doubt, the most recognized in the industry and we plan to put a solid foundation under each one and build them into successful businesses once again. The team at our Washington, N.C., facility is our most valuable asset and we plan to expand on that talent in order to execute our plan successfully.”

The brands have been through a number of changes in ownership and leadership since the recession from In 2009, private investors purchased Donzi and Pro-Line from American Marine Holdings. Later that year, Liberty Investments purchased Fountain out of bankruptcy. In 2010, the brands consolidated production to Liberty’s North Carolina facility. In 2012, Baja Marine, LLC, was organized to purchase the brands after another bankruptcy.

As it struggled to rebuild its dealer network, the company launched a factory-direct ordering program for Donzi and Fountain in 2014. Most recently, company president Johnny Walker resigned at the end of 2015.

IMG is investing heavily in new product development across all brands and preparing to launch
new network development strategies, the company said.

Bank of the West has been secured as the wholesale financial source for the company.

“Our short-term priorities are to build our sales and marketing teams and secure the right selling tools
for our dealers,” Curran said. “These action plans, well underway, are paramount in attracting new
dealers as well as generating excitement with consumers.”

The company plans to have a new product launch for Fountain Powerboats at the Fort Lauderdale
International Boat Show, with other new products planned for early next year.