Savage name carries on despite slowing sales

Canadian powered outdoor recreational sports specialist BRP took over several iconic brands, including Savage, in a buy-out of Australian alloy boat maker Telwater.

However, while Savage’s siblings – Stacer, Quintrex and Yellowfin – have featured in BRP’s global market updates, there has been no mention of Savage.

Telwater Marketing and Communications Manager Madeline Bishop told boatsales that Savage sales had fallen to a trickle over the past few years, meaning the brand no longer made a significant contribution to the group’s overall sales.

“Savage is now such a small number of our sales that we don’t add it to the overall numbers any more,” she said.

It was for this reason alone that the brand was not mentioned in company reports that talked about the Gold Coast-based manufacturing business.

Asked if that potentially spelled an end for Savage in Australia, Buck said there were no plans afloat to phase out the brand.

During the 1980s and ’90s, the Melbourne-based fibreglass and alloy boat maker Savage was the top-selling brand in Australia. In 2008, it was bought by Coomera-based Telwater and added to its portfolio of locally manufactured brands.

Savage’s current model line-up ranges from tinnies with names such as Water Rat, Snipe and Kestrel, budget Osprey runabouts, fishing-focused Scorpion runabouts, estuary specialist Raptor runabouts, and a range of larger runabouts, bowriders and cabin boats.

A quick search of boatsales shows Savage only represents a small number of new boats offered for sale compared with Stacer, Quintrex and Yellowfin.