Mystic Eyes Unprecedented Growth in 2019
Mystic Powerboats of DeLand, FL, is building on the product growth and dealer expansion it enjoyed in 2018, and has a variety of strategies to ramp up that success in the year ahead.
Last year, company owner John Cosker and sales and marketing chief Greg Weber shifted Mystic from a direct-distribution system to a dealer network, adding five dealers around the country. “That was a big change for us—a real growth curve,” Weber says. Now, with a solid dealer network in place, Mystic is working with a sixth dealer, to be located in the Southwest part of the country, to come on board this year. “We hope to have them here with us very soon,” Weber told Powerboat Nation. “We feel that 2019 is going to be a good growth year for Mystic.”
The builder has been actively hiring key staffers, and now employs around 45 people. In addition, they’ve expanded their production space by about 15 percent. Mystic finished and delivered 16 boats in 2018, and projections for the year ahead are somewhere between 30 and 32 boats to build and deliver—just about double its production compared to last year.
Also on the Mystic docket is to put their boats in front of a a more diverse array of boat-show attendees. As the winter show season gears up, you’ll see more Mystics in several shows that the company has never displayed in before. “We’re looking forward to good things coming from those winter shows,” Weber says. First up will be the Cleveland Boat Show (Jan. 17-21). “We’ve never been to that show before. That’s a big show for the Great Lakes area.” Shortly after that, you can find Mystic at the Detroit Boat Show (Feb. 16-24). Mystic will also be displaying at a few shows up in the northern part of Florida, in the Sarasota, Bradenton and Tampa areas.
“And of course we’ll be in Miami,” Weber says. “We’re planning to have a 42’ center console, a 38’ center console, and the 38’ outboard cat. It’s one that’s in production right now—it’s not finished yet, but it will be in time for Miami.” The factory is in the process of finalizing the paint scheme and fine-tuning the interior. “We’re doing some different stuff on the interior that we haven’t done on a boat before. We’re very excited to have that boat on display in Miami.”
Speaking of Mystic’s product line, Cosker and Weber are stoked about the runaway success of their two newest models, the 38’ center console and the 38’ outboard cat. “We have a very strong production footing with both of those models,” Weber says. “We’ve already got several orders on the books for each of them. Then, of course, our 42 center console continues to be very strong for us. We’re going to continue our product innovations with our boats and will continue to improve those and add new features to those boats. They are are going to be our base. And, then as we move forward, we’ll be looking to expand our product line even further.”
The C3800 catamaran features a unique interior that gives Mystic the flexibility to change its configuration. “We can build a different style boat for each buyer,” Weber says. “When you do the traditional ‘two plus four’ configuration, there’s not a lot you can do with that—two in the front, four across the back. But with our ‘open’ configuration, there are so many ways to arrange the seat placement, and where things are positioned, to accommodate the way you use the boat.” To date, Mystic has either sold or has orders for a total of eight of the C3800s. Given that the boat debuted at the Lake of the Ozarks in late August 2018, its sales have been exceptionally strong in such a relatively short period of time. “We’ve been able to really get that boat up and running, and it’s been getting some really strong support,” according to Weber.
Rounding out Mystic’s plans for 2019 are to plan a few customer/owner-oriented events. “We want to do one in Florida, so we’re working on some of the details on that to take place sometime this spring,” he says. “Several of our owners have volunteered to help on that. We should know more details soon.”
