At the recent IBEX show in Tampa Florida, there were a team of GM engineers reviewing the latest product offerings of numerous marine propulsion packages providers to the marine industry. When we asked the GM engineers what they thought of what they saw, well, their reply was a little startling, They said that is was a shame to see that only the wake board boat manufactures were offering their customers true late model, state of the art engine packages, whether based on the GM power plant or the new Ford double overhead cam engines supplied by Indmar. The marine engine providers to the direct drive and v-drive market are nearly all using modern current engine platforms
The GM team went on to point at the Mercruisers strangle hold on the sterndrive market allowed them to continue do deliver a 40 year old engine technology to today’s power boating consumer.
GM explained that for years now, the technology and scale-able size of GM has giving then the ability to bring the latest technology to the marine industry. They explained that while GM delivers massive power and weights savings to the automotive consumer in its new trucks, Camaro’s, and Corvettes that the powerboat industry doesn’t get to see it until they get to 1350HP engine packages for $200 Grand.
GM Pointed out that they were actively pursuing a few relationships that would bring state of the art fuel efficiency, power and reliability to the market. Their exact words are “You’re towing your boat with modern technology that likens to an iPhone and then you’re climbing in your boat and cranking up that old rotary telephone.”
Words on the horizon! We will keep you posted as to what takes to bring new modern LS, LT Generation power to all of us at a fraction of the cost of old generational block offerings.
