Volvo Penta Blows its Early Lead in Joystick Technology – and Risks Its Sterndrive Market Share Big Mo'!
The reason that getting the sterndrive joystick into production fast is important is because it is such a strong sales incentive-- even at higher prices. Boat brands without the joystick may well experience a harder time selling their sterndrive boats.
It started with Volvo Penta, as usual
Volvo Penta introduced its revolutionary IPS in 2005. A year later the joystick was added to IPS. Volvo Penta says it has sold about 4,000 IPS units since inception.
The U.S. Action is in Sterndrives
But only about 2,200 twin diesel units are sold a year in express cruisers in the US. A bigger market is twin sterndrive gas-powered boats. There are about 4,000 sold in the US, alone, each year -- and, there are even more sold in Europe. That’s where the action is!
This spring MerCruiser’s joystick system (called Apollo when in the prototype stage, currently called Axius, but we’re told that it will change to something else soon) will be installed in these brands: Maxum, Formula, Rinker, Sea Ray, Bayliner, and Bavaria. More brands are coming soon.
Pssst – Volvo Penta joysticks are being installed, too
As reported last week in our interview with Jeff Olson, president of Four Winns, that builder is installing both MerCruiser and Volvo Penta joysticks in its production this spring. However, Volvo Penta has yet to announce the introduction of their joystick product in production to the public. Volvo Penta has told both builders and dealers that a joystick sterndrive system is coming late this spring. We're told that it will be rolled out to builders officially in the middle of April.
It’s all about market share
In the 1980s MerCruiser had over 80% of the sterndrive market and was happy to let Volvo Penta have the scraps that fell off the table. But in the 90s things changed and last year Volvo Penta had over 50% of the non-Brunswick-owned boat companies' business. Moreover, with the introduction of the IPS, V-P was beginning to dominate the diesel express cruiser market and had the Big Mo' working for them in sterndrives with many of the country’s independent builders and Genmar. Stingray, for example, went all Volvo Penta last year.
Now that Big Mo' is seeing a hiccup. We know of at least one independent builder who has installed mostly V-P sterndrives the last couple of years, who is now requesting MerCruiser’s Axius joystick this spring, and we are told others are doing the same.
In June MerCruiser plans to introduce its diesel sterndrive system. With the advent of SeaCore, saltwater-tolerant sterndrive lower units can now be put on larger boats, a trend in Europe for some time with Volvo Penta lower units, and now with MerCruisers as well. It remains to be seen if this trend also hits the states.
