In a move that still shakes the ground in Osage Beach, Missouri, cigarette racing team named great sea thunder as its new dealer at Lake of the Ozarks. The news was first reported by Speedboat magazine this morning.

“There were a number of factors involved in the decision, both our strengths and the weaknesses of others,” said Fred Ross, owner of Big Thunder Marine as well as the Fountain motor boats, Donzi Marine and Marine Bass motorboat brands. “Cigarette looked around and saw that we were their best option for maximum growth. Our goals for the future are aligned.

Big Thunder Marine is now Cigarette’s Midwest dealer in Lake of the Ozarks, as well as its South Florida location. Yesterday’s picture Fort Myers at sea Burnt Store Lunch Run by Pete Boden copyright Take 2 sensational photos.

A full-service dealership with multiple Lake of the Ozarks locations, Big Thunder Marine offers the Fountain, Donzi, and Baja lines in addition to its pontoon and tugboat lines. Ross said the addition of Cigarette is a complement – rather than a competition – to its current lines of high-performance powerboats.

“We see this over and over again,” Ross explained. “Usually cigarette guys want cigarettes and fountain guys want fountains. There’s very little crossover. They’re two different brands with two different price points. Cigarette is a very niche brand that only builds a limited number of boats per year.That said, I couldn’t be more proud of our Fountain brand.

Big Thunder Marine General Manager Jeremy Anderson views the line’s offering as a significant opportunity for the continued not only local but national expansion of his business.

“We are proud to also offer the cigarette line in our Palm Beach Gardens (Florida) location as we continue to grow our presence in Florida,” Anderson said. “We are delighted to work with Cigarette. The boats are beautiful and their fit and finish is amazing.

That means based in Osage Beach Nautical performance center, which has carried the Cigarette range since 2015, was released. Brett Manire, co-owner of Performance Boat Center, said he was notified of the change by text Friday evening.

According to Manire, in the seven years that Performance Boat Center carried the cigarette line, the dealership moved about 150 new and used boats for the Opa-locka boat company in Florida. The dealership held its first Cigarette Owners Get-together six years ago and has built it from a 55-boat affair to a flagship event attracting more than 100 boats over the past three years.

Plans for the 2022 event are uncertain. Mark Waddington, Manire’s partner in Performance Boat Center, said the dealership will hold a date on the planned dates of June 16-19 as they already have 56 boats signed up for the weekend-long event. “If we can’t call the cigarette owners’ rendezvous, we’ll call it something else,” Waddington said. “But we definitely have it, at least as a farewell.”

“But it’s only a weekend,” added Manire. “We are disappointed with Cigarette’s decision and how it turned out, but we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that our Cigarette customers are satisfied now and in the future. We provide a level of service that no one can’t match, and we will continue to do so. It’s not like selling used Hyundais. We sold 180 performance boats last year and over 220 boats in total.

“That said, we are extremely pleased with our MTI and the Sunsation brands,” he continued. “We currently have 22 MTIs on order. And we get two 32 Sunsations per month, one 34 Sunsations per month and one 40 Sunsations every two months. The last three guys we delivered cigarettes to also ordered MTIs.

On the Big Thunder Marine side of the equation, Ross is optimistic about his dealership’s future. With Cigarette, he thinks he has added one more piece to the multi-brand concession puzzle.

“Big Thunder has proven it can sell multiple brands,” he said. “When we started just five years ago, a lot of people laughed at us. I don’t think anyone laughs anymore, and that’s because we have the best team in the business.

A Cigarette Racing Team representative could not be reached by speedonthewater.com when this story first aired. However, the Speedboat magazine article quoted Cigarette representative Ralph Navarro as saying, “With the new growth of the business, we have decided that the best partner to have in Missouri and the Palm Beach area is Big Thunder Marine. .”

Although Performance Boat Center’s Waddington said he believed change was coming due to his interactions with the new cigarette ownership team, he was still pissed about it.

“I would be lying if I said it doesn’t hurt, but not from a financial standpoint,” he said. “When you build a partnership and establish a reputation, you expect your partners to treat you well and with respect. I don’t think new Cigarette owners understand Performance Boat Center.

“We don’t sell ‘fiberglass’,” he continued. “We sell lifestyle and services. Whether you own a Cigarette, MTI or Sunsation, you are part of the Performance Boat Center family. Ultimately, I have no problem with people’s business decisions. It is what it is and, like I said, I knew it was coming.

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