Invincible Boats tests Australian waters

The 14-year-old Florida-based brand builds centre console monohulls and catamarans ranging from 33 to 46 feet (10 to 14 metres) with an emphasis on fishing, and luxury.

Invincible Boats announced at the 2020 Miami International Boat Show that it was already in talks two Australian distributors; one in Sydney and another on the Gold Coast.

Newly minted international business vice-president Ian Birdsall told boatsales.com.au that starting with virtually no brand awareness internationally, and tariffs putting US-built product at a price disadvantage in the EU, Australia was a market that posed fewer hurdles to overcome when growing the brand.

“In Australia, they have an affinity with cats anyway… so it's probably less difficult to convince the buyer that a catamaran offshore sport-fishing boat is the way to go than it would be in some other markets,” Birdsall said.

“So the mindset's there, but the product to fill that niche really isn't, and I think we will tap into that market of people who are used to cats but eye the opportunity to purchase a sport-fishing boat that fits their mindset as a customer.”

Birdsall joined the company in late 2019, bringing 40 years of international boat sales experience and an understanding that an equal challenge to entering the Australian market was finding the right dealers.

“From a customer point of view and from a dealer point of view, it's who is going to look after them, who is going to support them, who's really interested in their future, not just selling a few boats,” he said.

“I'm trying to find dealers that will be with us in five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10-years’ time, and will give the customers a good experience.”

Birdsall said other challenges Invincible would need to overcome were a weak Australian dollar making the US product more expensive, and buyers rusted on to home-grown products.

“The Aussies are pretty patriotic when it comes to the home-built products," he said.

"They do like their home-built products. They don't mind an American built product but you've got to prove yourself.

“I think it's a matter of convincing the customer that they are getting good value and there's a big difference between price and value. So, you have to convince the customer, because I believe in this myself, that they're getting good value.”

Invincible entered the cat market in 2017 and offers four models; 35, 37, 40 and as of the 2020 Miami International Boat Show, a 46-footer.

It initially made its name in the US with monohull fishing machines, available in three-foot intervals from 33 to 42 feet, with the largest also available as a centre cabin.

Monohull open models would also be available in Australia, Birdsall said, because "there's always a customer out there that, for whatever reason, a lot of it's perceived, they just don't want a cat, simple as that".

“So, I don't want to be in a situation where, even at a boat show like Miami International Boat Show and we've got [people saying] ‘Invincible, fantastic but they're just cats.’

"I don't want to be at Sydney boat show next year just with cats.”

While Invincible will be attending the Sydney and Sanctuary Cove boat shows in 2021, it will make its Australian debut later this year at Steptember's Perth boat show.

The boat show schedule reflects Invincible’s “go-to-market” strategy.

“If we get good representation on the Gold Coast, good representation in Sydney and then Perth and Melbourne, that's probably enough, really," Birdsall said.

"It covers the country in terms of giving customers the opportunity to go and actually demo a boat without having to travel miles.

“Now if you want to buy one in Adelaide, if you want to buy one in Darwin, that's fine. We ship it and we just fly in to take care of it, look after it for you if you need to.”

Asked to look out one year and describe how he would measure success, Birdsall said it was about so much more than “how many boats did we sell".

“If we're sitting here in 12 months’ time and we've sold a handful of boats in Australia, but we've got a handful of very happy customers, very content dealers, and the brand name is looked upon positively, I'll be extremely pleased with what we've done,” he said.