Originally posted by talltigeguy
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It's not a fair comparison between the boat manufacturers and car companies. Cars are usually made with metal bits that can be stamped on an assembly line and mostly assembled by robots. Boats are more like 1 off customs every time they pop out of the mold. The boat manufacturers spray and "make" the hull, stringer system, bond them all together and they also manufacture the interior from scratch too. Of course they don't build their own engines but they order them to spec for their applications, and need to design and install the electrical system from scratch too.
Then you have to think volume. According to the Bu IPO in 2012 there were 5,500 sport boats sold across the country. That's from all the boat companies. Compare that to, what, 450,000-500,000 F-150s sold? That's why they are so expensive, there are not many units to spread around the overhead.
Of course I don't think that justifies the quick run we've seen up to the 100,000 price tag on lots of new boats, but apparently the market supports it so it will continue.
I've been on a few factory tours of boats and cars, the most impressive to me was the BMW factory in Munich. Vastly different types of construction between boats and cars.
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