 Marquis Yachts

CEO Rob Parmentier

36 JUNE–JULY 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com

Markets & Regions

PROFILE | MARQUIS YACHTS

I

n The Art Of War, military strategist

Sun Tzu writes that the surest path

forward is to launch from a position

of strength – precisely the approach that

Pulaski, Wisconsin-based Marquis Yachts

has adopted in its campaign for global

market share in the luxury yacht segment.

The venerable nameplate raised

eyebrows industry-wide last July when

president and CEO Rob Parmentier

announced that the company had

discontinued its entire yacht lineup in

order to focus on developing new product.

Marquis raised eyebrows again in January,

when it sold off its Larson powerboat

brand to Polaris, exiting the small boat

business in order to focus on yacht

production alone. Parmentier notes that

both steps were essential in order for the

company to properly leverage its entire

400,000ft^2 production facility and 330

new 46 Command Bridge coming out and

then we’ll be doing some upgrades to the

other units.”

Parmentier notes the new 46 will set

a new direction for future Carver models

to follow. He’s excited about the new

direction which, he says, will better serve

the tastes and needs of today’s buyers.

“It’s a big market, with a void created

by the exit of Sea Ray. Sea Ray had

40% market share, which we’re all

now filling. There was also the exit

of Meridian, and we’ve been filling

that void as well.”

LEXUS PARTNERSHIP

Perhaps no new launch

at this autumn’s

Ft Lauderdale

International

Boat Show

employees on the all-new yacht designs.

“We put together a congruent strategy with

Carver as the bread-and-butter line,” he

says. “Our luxury yacht line will be Lexus,

and then there will be Marquis.”

THE FAMILY FAVOURITE

Over a span of almost seven

decades, Carver Yachts has

established itself as one of the

globe’s leading yacht brands,

with more than 250,000 vessels

built and shipped worldwide.

“It’s a very iconic brand that

has a strong customer base and

retention ratio,” notes Parmentier.

“We build to what those

consumers like. We have a

IT TAKES A LOT OF NERVE TO DISCONTINUE YOUR ENTIRE PRODUCT LINE SO YOU CAN FOCUS

ALL RESOURCES ON MOVING AHEAD. BUT FOR MARQUIS YACHTS, IT’S A GAMBLE THAT THE

COMPANY BELIEVES WILL PAY OFF HANDSOMELY

WORDS: CRAIG RITCHIE

To boldly go

 The Lexus LY 650 will officially debut at

the 2019 Ft Lauderdale International Boat Show