Re: Why no Chryslers in the marine world anymore?
Come on guys,<br /><br />This has more to do with history than anything. Chrysler had a huge market share of the marine market especially in the inboard market. The 318 and the 360 were frequently found in Chris Crafts, Owens, Bertrams and they had a reputation as solid, easy to maintainance, and dependable. Heck the current crop of Mopar engins are still solid performers regardless of how you want to document who is better where.<br /><br />And now with their very sucessful introduction of the HEMI, regardless of their efficiency in a car or truck, would by extension make an interesting marketing program for any boat manufacturer. Yes I know that Mercury has a well documented relationship with GM and I believe they manufactured the Corvette engine for several years, but someone like Volvo/Penta (assuming that they may even share a relationship with Ford as ford owns volvo) or with Yamaha re-entering the IO market it would create an interesting product differentiation opportunity. The marketing campaign is idealy set up for inboard or V-drive boats such as ski boats or the throwback runabouts coming out from Regal and Chris-Craft. As these boats wouldn't need an outdrive. In addition the inboard market may benefit from Chrysler and their relationships with Cummins and Mercedes Benz in the diesel market. And yes I know that Cummins is a very strong player in the marine diesel market.<br /><br />My basic question is why in the current market, which is far larger than the market that supported Ford, Chrysler and GM back in the 60's and 70's, is there no room for more than one engine manfacturer who doesn't even put most of their engines in their current crop of autos. <br /><br />(The 5.7 and the 4.3 which are by far the most popular marine engines, are not found in any of their current trucks)<br /><br />I enjoy the unique competition that exists between racing teams and the unique identity that can emerge with competition. Chrysler is the obvious choice with their history not only in the inboard market but in the outboard market and the boat building business which they were forced to give up during the government bailout in the 80's.
