MasterCraft Boat Company Aquires Hydra-Sports Boats
February 15, 2010
MasterCraft Boat Company, the world's leading luxury performance inboard boat manufacturer, has announced it was successful in submitting the winning bid for the assets of Hydra-Sports boats. Hydra-Sports, who is a well regarded manufacturer of 19 high performance saltwater boats, was part of the recent Genmar bankruptcy filing and asset auction. Under its new ownership, Hydra-Sports will move to MasterCraft headquarters and production facility in Vonore, TN where it be under the direction of a dedicated engineering, sales, marketing and manufacturing team to ensure a future for the Hydra-Sports brand.
"Hydra-Sports has built an exceptional line of boats in its' long, rich past so we’re really excited about the potential to expeditiously restore this brand back to the top of the center console and salt water category," said John Dorton president and CEO. "As the first luxury inboard company to acknowledge the value of the saltwater market, we have actually had our eye on Hydra-Sports for quite some time. We identify with their focus on quality, the reputation of their product line and the demographic of their buyers," he added.
MasterCraft has a long history of being associated with the saltwater market, including being held by a company that also owned Boston Whaler before its sale to Brunswick. More recently, in 2005, MasterCraft began manufacturing many of their boats with a fully comprehensive saltwater package and has since developed 3 boats directly aimed at the saltwater market; the CSX 220, CSX 265 and the MasterCraft 300. These calculated moves into “blue water” have been wildly successful mainly due to MasterCraft’s ability to recruit top talent, which includes several key executives with extensive saltwater experience from such notable manufacturers as Hinkley Yachts, Boston Whaler, Wellcraft and Hatteras.
"Scott Wood, MasterCaft's VP of Design and Engineering, will head up the future D&E work for Hydra-Sports with the help of his very competent design staff,” Dorton commented. “Scott, whose background varies from Boston Whaler to Hinckley, is one of the finest saltwater boat designers in the world. Given his talents and the competitive nature of the entire leadership team, we expect we'll make a big impact in the market very quickly." In terms of personnel, MasterCraft expects to retain some of Hydra-Sports’ key staff but will largely fill the openings with local employees, given the company plans to begin production of the Hydra-Sports line in late spring.
The company will also be working closely with existing Hydra-Sports dealers domestically and internationally. “We know that a lot of Hydra-Sports’ success and strength in the past and, more importantly, in the future depends on their ‘tested and true’ dealer network,” said Scott Crutchfield, MasterCraft’s chief marketing officer. “As a result, our plan is to extensively lean on and learn from this exceptional network of existing Hydra-Sports dealers especially as we move to fill distribution gaps. What we glean from them will help set the standards and expectations for future Hydra-Sports’ dealers.” MasterCraft’s goal is to have new dealer agreements in place before the start of the 2011 model year.
Dorton sums up the unfolding of events, "I think this is very good news to Hydra-Sports’ consumers and dealers. Without MasterCraft purchasing the assets, the brand appeared to have a very dim future. That would not have been a fit ending for a company with a great 30 year history.”
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