Cope and Mastercraft Split?

[Molarbu]

Right on, Matt!!

This is the 4th MC dealer in the Seattle area to be dumped. It has got to be getting old at some point. People are going to stop buying MC because of the lack of stability in the market. Who will they get service from next?

The Spokane MC dealer has an unreal amount of inventory in their yard right now, not to mention a brand new mortgage. I have to wonder how well they can sell $80,000 & $110,000 boats in a blue collar, small town. And are they allowed to sell other brands or types of boats to make mortgage payments? My guess is their Salt Lake City store will be asked to help out for a few years.

That is a really nice facility and they really do have a ton of boats sitting around. I've visited with the manager there and he's a really nice guy, but I'd hate to be him. I think they were hoping the CDA crowd would be buying some expensive boats for their spoiled brat kids. He did sell one of the MC center-console fishing boats to one of the VP's at Nike the day I was there. I think the economy right now coupled with that nice, new facility is going to spell trouble for them.

[SmoothWaterMan]

MC is on a kick to convert all their dealers to exclusivity. From a mfg standpoint this makes sense, particularly since dealers with two brands of the same type of boat don't need to be aggressive and actively "sell" the features and benefits of the brand they carry. The downside potentially is that it's a tough year to jump out of a known environment, unless the only other direction is up.

Rumor has it they did the same thing in Texas, offered an ultimatum to a long-term dealer - Dump the competitor or lose MC, and the dealer choose to lose MC. The second part of the rumor was that MC opened a "factory store" ?? Or maybe it's called the factory store.... not sure on details but sounded like MC had some pretty strong involvement in them.

Peter

[WakeGirl]

I don't have a lot of personal feelings about this other than on the surface it seems like a pretty dumb business decision by MC, particularly with the economy headed in the direction that it is & it being an election year to boot. But....whatever, stoopid is as stoopid does I suppose (I don't even like that movie, but the quote seemed appropriate). The one thing that does concern me though is the impact of the Cope/UWS issue on other more independent Malibu dealers like Bakes in Seattle, as others here have mentioned. As an example....Bakes (by most accounts) is a really stand-up operation, & by many, numerous accounts UWS/Copes is not. So what happens when Copes in Seattle tries to bring in Malibu when Bakes is right in their back yard? I don't like the possibilities that this presents. IMO....Malibu needs to be right on top of this issue & not allow territories to become compromised. Then again, maybe I'm just being paranoid & everyone will play nice.

[curtisco24]

If you have ever been through the mastercraft plant and talked to the people that work there you would understand why they are making the business decisions they are. Basically the company has been bought and sold many times, and each time the new owner rides the name for all it is worth and sells. In the 70s and 80s they built great boats and cared about their customers. However, as new owners came in, they changed build processes and design. This made quality go to crap as we all know. Management there is out of touch will reality, basically from what I could tell they new very little about boats. The workers that do know won't speak up for fear of loosing their job. Basically, you have arrogant people in charge that have no clue how to run a boat company. I have several friends that work there and they get fed the same crap of growth numbers, but they say all growth is overseas, and domestic is really slowing down. I guess that is what management gets for being punks.

[NorCaliBu]

...they changed build processes and design. This made quality go to crap as we all know...

Really? We all know this?

I haven't seen "quality of build" issues with any of the MC's I ski behind. I don't care for the new styling concepts in their wakeboats and I am completely unimpressed with the wake quality of their slalom rigs but I've never seen any quality issues. The biggest problem I have with MC is the arrogance of the majority of MC owners. Not much room in a slalom rig once you put in the big head of a MC owner.

[txwakejunkie]

...they changed build processes and design. This made quality go to crap as we all know...

Really? We all know this?

I haven't seen "quality of build" issues with any of the MC's I ski behind. I don't care for the new styling concepts in their wakeboats and I am completely unimpressed with the wake quality of their slalom rigs but I've never seen any quality issues. The biggest problem I have with MC is the arrogance of the majority of MC owners. Not much room in a slalom rig once you put in the big head of a MC owner.

bahaaaa

[auto]

...they changed build processes and design. This made quality go to crap as we all know...

Really? We all know this?

I haven't seen "quality of build" issues with any of the MC's I ski behind. I don't care for the new styling concepts in their wakeboats and I am completely unimpressed with the wake quality of their slalom rigs but I've never seen any quality issues. The biggest problem I have with MC is the arrogance of the majority of MC owners. Not much room in a slalom rig once you put in the big head of a MC owner.

True dat.

[Lgndracer]

This is a good one.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/boa/622201600.html

We're going to the Tacoma Boat show today, should be interesting around the Mastercraft booth, if there is one.

[mcsammamish]

WakeGirl, I've thought of the issue of Copes bringing Malibu up to Seattle since they opened their first store. Malibu is pretty strict about this not happening and of course Bake's is always on the lookout. I don't think it will be an issue though. As long as Bake's keeps growing their market share and Master Craft's keeps going down in the area, then I think we're ok. This and I know Malibu knows and appreciates what Seattle's market is like. It's unique for certian reasons and having 2 dealers in such a close proximity to each other just doesn't work around here and in a lot of areas too.

About the Craig's list ad. Thanks to one of our many awesome customers we knew about this about 2 hours after the ad went up. I can gaurentee you that Cope will not be selling these boats any where near dealer cost. Think about it, when has Cope's done something like this? This is a quick and easy way to do some marketing as well as a good way to get people's attention. In reality a dealer can determine what "cost" is in many different ways. Freight, Dealer Prep, Gas, PACK, Holdback, CSI, Rep incentives and even how many times you had to clean the boat and what that cost you.

Sooooo, if anyone wants to go shop and let us know what cost is on a Master Craft, I'm sure everyone would love to know that magic information......if you know what I mean.

[D-GOOSE]

McSam I hear what your saying about Malibu shouldn't be putting 2 dealers so close and agree with that. But how do you think Malibu will deal with one of there largest dealers (UWS) wanting to now take over the Seattle's market and push Bake's out the door? Or will UWS try to buy Bake's out?

I'm not saying any of this is going to happen but just a thought. IMO Malibu should honor the deal they have with Bakes for that area.

[jjackkrash]

McSam I hear what your saying about Malibu shouldn't be putting 2 dealers so close and agree with that. But how do you think Malibu will deal with one of there largest dealers (UWS) wanting to now take over the Seattle's market and push Bake's out the door? Or will UWS try to buy Bake's out?

I'm not saying any of this is going to happen but just a thought. IMO Malibu should honor the deal they have with Bakes for that area.

Hijack on-- So what do you have to contribute to the site to become Swag King? I didn't see that listed as one of the membership levels

Hijack off.

Edit for enlightenment:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....showtopic=13514

Edited March 30, 2008 by jjackkrash

[WakeGirl]

McSam I hear what your saying about Malibu shouldn't be putting 2 dealers so close and agree with that. But how do you think Malibu will deal with one of there largest dealers (UWS) wanting to now take over the Seattle's market and push Bake's out the door? Or will UWS try to buy Bake's out?

I'm not saying any of this is going to happen but just a thought. IMO Malibu should honor the deal they have with Bakes for that area.

That's my biggest concern. UWS/Copes is so big & sells so many boats for Malibu that Malibu can't just ignore the situation (which I doubt they will).

McSam I hear what your saying about Malibu shouldn't be putting 2 dealers so close and agree with that. But how do you think Malibu will deal with one of there largest dealers (UWS) wanting to now take over the Seattle's market and push Bake's out the door? Or will UWS try to buy Bake's out?

I'm not saying any of this is going to happen but just a thought. IMO Malibu should honor the deal they have with Bakes for that area.

Hijack on-- So what do you have to contribute to the site to become Swag King? I didn't see that listed as one of the membership levels

Hijack off.

Edit for enlightenment:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....showtopic=13514

A lot of hard work!

[NorCaliBu]

So what do you have to contribute to the site to become Swag King?

Have you not noticed the 5 billion Group Buys that D-GOOSE has organized?

[Lgndracer]

What is going on in Seattle with towboats? I know the Tacoma show is not the big one in the area but..............

Cope had no MC's on display (no real suprise)

The Tige dealer had Liquidation banners up both in his booth and the lot off of 167,

The big offshore boat dealer (Powerboats NW) had a bunch of Calabria on display that the guy said they were blowign out in thier booth as a favor to the dealer that was going out of business.

Gonnasons was not ever there with Supra and Mooba.

It seems in this area the only dealers with any repeat buys and a decent reputation are Bakes (Malibu) and Pacific Nautique.