Compact speed boat to take the fight up to jet skis
Like jet skis but don't enjoy getting wet? The Fusion X-15 could be the solutionA US manufacturer more at home making lights wants to branch into something new – building shrunken-down speed boats that will compete head-to-head with jet skis.
US Lighting Group, traditionally more at home building robots and smart LED-based lighting systems, has announced the formation of Fusion X, a boat-builder whose first product will be a 4.6-metre speed boat.
The prize is a slice of the estimated $US43 billion ($A56 billion) that North Americans spent on boats and boating-related activities in 2019. Growth in the sector is expected to sit at around 5 percent a year.
US Lighting Group said a primary reason behind the high growth of boating was a similar rise in expendable income across North America and Europe allowing consumers to increase spending on marine leisure activities.
The company already has skin in the game, having built scaled-down speed boats in the 1990s – shortly before the global credit crunch hit and decimated the recreational boating industry worldwide.
Skin in the game
“We were very successful in selling worldwide back in the ’90s, so this was a natural transition for the US Lighting Group,” US Lighting Group chief executive Paul Spivak said.
“Having Fusion X Marine join the US Lighting Group will have positive benefits for the US Lighting Group stakeholders and allow the company to grow the business and expand into new market segments.”
Fusion X’s first product, the superyacht arch-wearing X-15, is made from fibreglass and carries a 1.7-metre beam. The hull useless a deep 20-degree deadrise.
The $US15,000 X-15 weighs only 300kg – slightly more than a jet ski – and draws just 0.2m of draft. Despite its small dimensions, the X-15 is classed by its maker as an offshore boat.
The craft is rated for an outboard engine of up to 50hp, with no claims about how fast it will go. Its price is about the same as a high-end jet ski.
Fusion X also aims to build a larger cigarette-styled X-27 that it claims will “outperform any other boat in its class including speed and maneuverability”.
The $US150,000 Fusion X-27 will use a very deep 24-degree deadrise, with up to 300hp of outboard or 350hp of inboard engine pushing the 7.3-metre, 1540kg boat along.
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