For example, GM sells only about 180,000 engines a year for boats, the company said. I don't think it will have great material impact on their business. Performance speedboats are a hard sell, said Greg Proteau, spokesman for the National Marine Manufacturers Assn. in Chicago. Sales of powerful-performance boats average 5,500 a year, compared with 215,000 for family and fishing boats, he said. The market is at the low end.
People are price-conscious.
That's why they sell more Camrys than Lexuses. The company said it could offer the engines or a boat-engine combination as early as the summer of 1998. Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will launch a leisure motorboat in late April to branch out into the marine business. It will be showcased at the Tokyo International Boat Show, opening Saturday, the top automaker said. It also features an aluminum hull, a diesel engine, and a top speed of 54 kilometers per hour, it said.