Lund Boats by the Lund Boat Company has been in the boating industry for nearly six decades. The first aluminum duck boat that G. Howard Lund built in 1948 has after many years propelled to growth one of the leading manufacturers of aluminum boats in the United States. The company took another major milestone last year as it joined marine powerhouse Brunswick Corporation.
Lund started with only three employees in Howard's garage. His first duck boat got the interest of a boat salesman from Inland Marine Corporation who initially placed an order of 50 boats. As they say, the rest is history. From then on, Lund Boat Company has expanded to occupy 29 acres of land for its manufacturing facility and employ more than 500 people.
Being an industry leader has always been the driving force of Lund Boat. It is committed to bring to its growing customers boats that give more pleasure and value for their investment. Lund boats are designed to make boating more enjoyable and fishing more productive.
As a matter of fact, a number of features introduced in the boating industry over the last several decades stemmed from the Lund plant in New York Mills, Minnesota. Despite these achievements, however, Lund is not about to stop innovating and developing new systems and technologies to improve its processes.
Now that it is part of the Brunswick umbrella, Lund expects to do even much better as it can leverage on the great resources and technological advantages of its new parent firm. This only means better boating experience for the boaters.
Brunswick announced the complete acquisition of Lund Boats in April 2004 in line with the company's thrust to strengthen its hold in the aluminum boat market. Together with the $191-million purchase of Lund Boat were two other aluminum boat brands from Genmar Industries, Inc., namely Lowe Boats (15.23) and Crestliner (15.5). The purchase also included Genmar Boats Canada, Inc., which produces the Lund brand in Canada.
Each of these companies produces numerous models of aluminum fishing, pontoon, deck and utility boats ranging from 10 to 25 feet. Combined, these entities had sales of approximately $311 million in the year ended June 30, 2003.
"The goal of the Brunswick Boat Group is to offer our dealers a full line of products in all major powerboat segments," said group President Dustan E. McCoy in a previous statement about the acquisition of the above-mentioned aluminum brands. Prior to the transaction, he added Brunswick had no meaningful participation in the aluminum segment in the United States.
"The addition of these quality brands represents a significant step in our effort to 'fill the white spaces' in our product line-up and to offer dealers a full range of products to meet their customers' particular boating needs. In addition, this acquisition supports our effort to provide consumers with products that benefit from an integrated approach to boat and engine manufacturing, allowing the efficiencies, product planning and integration to deliver a more satisfying boat-owning experience."
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