A dealer for KEY WEST boats in Florida is quoted as follows:
Barton Holmes wrote:The situation is totally unprecedented. I’ve got five Key West Boats here, for instance, without the Yamaha [engines] that should go on ‘em. And I have no idea when I’ll be able to get those [engines]...We’re getting about a dozen calls a week about re-powers, and if the customer wants a Yamaha, for instance, we tell them it’s going to be at least six months before anything happens. In terms of 150-HP through 300-HP engines, there simply are none in dealer inventory right now. Quite frankly, in my entire life, I have never seen anything remotely like what’s happening today in the boat business. It’s a kind of buying frenzy, and I feel bad for the customers. I feel bad that they want to get into boating or change things up a bit and they can’t. It’s only April, and we’re almost out of boats!
A representative of Mercury Marine is quoted as follows:
Lee Gordon wrote:Spring is always when everyone orders, and demand is strong around the industry. We have more people working at Mercury in manufacturing today than ever before and have hundreds of job openings right now—as well as running 24/7. Forecasted orders are fine. New ones will always be delayed a bit, but that isn’t a new thing this year.
A division manager from Yamaha is quoted as follows:
Scott Higgins wrote:Timeline is very hard to discuss because of the uncertainty of the supply chain to get our product from Japan. We’ve asked customers to be patient and make sure they know that we’re working around the clock. We have been working tirelessly, trying to get back to where we want to be.
A completely different situation is described by a Suzuki representative, who reports that Suzuki likes to operate with many engines in inventory:
Gus Blakely wrote:It’s a part of our growth strategy.The last time I looked at our inventory we had about 250 units in stock...There are some classic cars out there that I’d like to have, but I wouldn’t want to be out on the water with an old outboard. I look at our product as the best we’ve ever made. The customer that is getting a new boat or a new engine, they’re going to be happy with that product.