Aug 18

Aug 18 Baja Boats: The Iconic Performance Boat Brand is Fading

The story of Baja is as colorful and interesting as any story in the boat industry, which is full of entrepreneurs that have come and gone. Not many brands in the performance boat industry last more than one or two decades, yet Baja has lasted five. Not only did Baja last but despite the rocky start, the brand was once the largest performance boat manufacturer in the industry, eventually acquired by industry giant Brunswick, only to be dissolved and sold. Baja is still alive and building boats but where does the fabled brand go from here?

Without getting too deep into the history books, the company started in Bucyrus Ohio in 1970 and effectively became a boat company in 1971 but was initially a fiberglass fabrication shop. In the first few years of inception, the company experienced a couple fires at the facility that really put them in jeopardy. Founded by Neil Baker, John Sears and Charles Coulter, the company Aeroglastics Inc. eventually built a new facility and the boat brand Baja took shape in the early seventies. I believe the first boats were actually called Cobra but I could be wrong on that. The company almost didn’t make it several times in the first few years alone, so the fact it’s still standing is remarkable.

My Dad was a Baja dealer in the late seventies. I would say in the late seventies and throughout the eighties Baja really built the business on stylish family boats that were great value. They were never the fastest but they were cool and had the ability to produce more boats than the other manufacturers at the time, which were usually very small operations.

In the seventies, jet boats were really popular. Big power without the headaches of a sterndrive.

Ironically, the largest competitor at the time was Checkmate boats, down the road in Bucyrus. Bill Combs, Checkmate founder, actually helped Baja start by selling a mold to them early on. Remarkably, Checkmate and Baja are among the most lasting performance brands ever and both operated from the same small town. The oldest performance brand to this day is Allison Boats which has built the most innovative and advanced performance boats since the fifties, no other brand comes close in longevity. Where Baja and Checkmate were mass produced, Allison was more niche, dedicated to design and innovation and also more savvy in manufacturing and business.

Stylish and affordable was the Baja philosophy at the time. The Sunsport series was hugely popular.

At one point when Doug Smith was running the company in the eighties, growth was incredible and the company had expanded the facility a few times. Baja had won industry awards and the brand was really popular. Eventually, Brunswick bought Baja, rounding out a massive lineup where Sea Ray, Bayliner and Maxum were the largest manufacturers in the world by volume. But, the economic crisis in 2008 stifled the industry and Brunswick sold Baja to Fountain in an effort to consolidate. Currently, Iconic Marine Group owns Baja, Fountain and Donzi.

The late eighties Sport 250 was a really popular boat for Baja and at this point the brand was moving to bigger boats and trying to get into the offshore market.

For a brand like Baja to continue, like almost any other company, they must innovate. But what does that even mean? Simply put, you have to sell boats and if what you’re building isn’t selling, you better figure out what people want quickly. More than that, you have to own a category. Plenty of brands compete but the most successful ones win on at least one variable. Outerlimits might say their category is the fastest and most advanced offshore V hulls. That doesn’t mean that’s all they do or there isn't’ competition but when you think of the fastest offshore V hull, you think Outerlimits. At one time, when you thought of family performance and value, you would think Baja; not anymore.

A Baja 223 interiot. This is a great design and leagues ahead of the junk you see in the family market you see now.

When you’re a brand and can’t very easily describe what you do really well or what category you own, you’re in trouble. When you own a category the many benefits are that you know your customer, know how you should price the products and you know what the path forward looks like. Companies that innovate create new markets and attract customers along the way. Stagnate brands put a fresh coat of paint on and hope for the best.

The Baja Outlaw series is dated and just not an attractive boat overall.

One elaboration on that point is that Allison Boats went largely into high performance bass boats years ago. Allison did offer a bass boat for a long time but it wasn’t until the nineties when competitive bass fishing really took off with sponsorships and big money that Darris Allison saw the market demand for high end really fast bass boats. They developed a 21’ hull from the ground up and it is the fastest bass boats on the market with advanced features and design you will only find on an Allison.

Right now Baja makes 3 boats, all legacy boats from the past. The models are pulled from the old Outlaw molds and they are extremely dated. That isn’t a recipe for success in any business. If there was one thing to be said about Baja over the years is that at many points they were design leaders. Some of their boats from the nineties were gorgeous and way ahead of their time. Sure, they may have pumped them out like popsicle sticks back then but they sure looked cool. Good design doesn’t necessarily cost more and that’s the only way Baja goes forward, good design.

There is nothing wrong with the affordable family performance category, in fact it is a large category that isn’t done well right now. Will Baja survive? I’m not sure. It would take a new approach, a new direction and some real innovation. The brand is still strong and still resonates. It would be a shame to see Baja fade into the sun like the colorful metal flake they were once famous for.