Feb 24

Feb 24 Cigarette Racing: Full Throttle Into the Future

At the Miami Boat Show, Cigarette Racing has always had a great presence. The longstanding brand is proudly from Miami and this year was no exception with an incredible display of boats and concepts. Cigarette as a company is also the biggest story at the Miami show. New boats, new concepts and new acquisitions are the big story and a general excitement around the brand now are what is different. I would say every company can benefit from a fresh set of eyes from time to time and for Cigarette it was perfect timing for new energy, a revamped strategy and some some capital to execute with. The Ruiz family, in partnership with another investor, is going to do just that.

I got a chance to talk to John Ruiz at the show, whose son Alex will be the CEO, and it is hard to describe the enthusiasm John has for the company. It’s not surprising, as John has been a boater his entire life and owned many Cigarettes. He is excited about the new boats and fresh concepts the team has come up with but also excited to see his family participate in the operation. In fact, with his son Alex as CEO, daughter Cristina as CMO, and his other son Johnny COO, John will be more overseeing the operations than anything. Plus, Erik Christiansen, an industry veteran and president of Cigarette is there as part of a well rounded leadership group. Erik was previously at Mercury Marine and with Mercury Racing, where was instrumental in developing the innovative quad cam four valve (QC4V) high HP engines, as well as the Verado.

At the Miami Show, Cigarette usually has the best display and the 2022 Miami Boat Show was no exception. Fast boats, a Ferrari and some great videos on display.

The biggest news after the ownership transition is the acquisition of Vectorworks, an advanced manufacturing company, specializing in engineering, tooling, metal and composite fabrication, and assembly. This will greatly expand Cigarette Racing’s production capabilities. They already added capability to the Opa Locka factory, so now Cigarette is situated to produce at a much higher level. Vectorworks is based in Florida and will continue to serve existing clients.

Cigarette will be completely redesigning the center console lineup with a more European modern look.

Going forward, the brand will be introducing an almost entirely new line of models. New sport Center Consoles, replacing the current CC lineup. And, the sport boats will be redesigned as well, including the classic 38 Top Gun. Expect a complete new sport boat range, and even possibly one in the 35’ range. It was a little ironic that one of the coolest boats at the 2022 Miami Boat Show was a 1984 Cigarette 24’, restored by Phil Lipschutz of Lip-Ship Performance, a longstanding premier Cigarette dealer in Miami.

Cigarette has already seen a large increase in sales and will sell through the production of the current models.

Other announcements include an innovative PWC that can be gas or electric powered. The model looks like an advance sit down PWC that is bigger and more capable than others on the market. Built to a high standard, I see this is a brand exercise where many Cigarette loyalists and brand hopefuls can have a “Cigarette” that is attainable. Also, if you have a large CC, why not get a couple matching PWCs.

Expect this kind of forward thinking from the new team and more aggressive business moves. The marine industry is a little bit sleepy and when new people come in with experience in extremely competitive industries and bring that energy, it really rocks the boat. Cigarette Racing has that energy and is going full throttle into the future.