(Valcourt) BRP celebrated two weeks ago the 20e anniversary of its privatization since Bombardier’s recreational products division was sold to a group of investors, including the Bombardier family, Caisse de dépôt et placement and Bain Capital. Its CEO, José Boisjoli, who is also celebrating his 20the year at the helm of the manufacturer of recreational products, takes stock of the progress made and outlines the perspectives that will guide the industrial group.
It was on December 18, 2003 that BRP was officially separated from the Bombardier group as part of a 980 million transaction aimed at replenishing the coffers of what was the Quebec multinational of air transport, transport equipment and products. recreational, severely affected by the effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks on air transport.
“It was in April that Bombardier announced to us that the recreational products division was going to be put up for sale. The next day, I had to announce it to our 2,000 Valcourt employees gathered at the arena. People were in shock and I told them that I was just as shocked as they were, but that our story began now,” recalls José Boisjoli.
BRP was then Bombardier’s smallest division. The company had revenues of 2.4 billion out of the 22 billion recorded by the group and employed 7,500 people. BRP essentially manufactured and marketed two products: snowmobiles and personal watercraft. It was absolutely necessary to diversify its range of recreational products and cover all seasons.
Since 2004, we have implemented a strategy to expand our offering. We launched into all-terrain vehicles, side-by-side vehicles, then three-wheelers and marine products. In 20 years, we have increased our product ranges from two to eight, and our sales have increased from 2.4 to 10 billion.
José Boisjoli, CEO of BRP
“In 2003, we had 1,600 dealers selling our products in 70 countries, but in the South, they were only personal watercraft. Today, with eight different product lines, we serve 3,000 dealers in 130 countries. Our dealers are selling six times more of our products than at the time,” adds the CEO.
BRP’s industrial footprint has also expanded significantly over the past 20 years as the number of its factories has grown from three – in Canada and Austria – in 2003 to 14 manufacturing sites today across six countries. The total number of employees has increased from 7,500 in 2003 to 23,000 today in 26 countries.
The Valcourt site, which had 3,000 employees in 2003 – or 2,000 workers at the factory and 1,000 white-collar workers – today employs 4,000 people, or 1,000 more white-collar workers, including 800 engineers assigned to the Valcourt research and development center. BRP.
“We have 4,000 people working in a village of 2,500 inhabitants, that comes with responsibilities that we have assumed for a long time. We built the municipal arena, the golf course, a daycare and the municipal swimming pool, we remain very committed to Valcourt,” emphasizes José Boisjoli.
Alongside the development of new products, the group has considerably increased its share of the global market for recreational products, which went from 10% in 2003 to 35% today, including 60% of the global snowmobile market and 65% of that watercraft.
The markets of the future
BRP had abandoned the manufacturing of sports boats in 2012, but returned strongly to this sector in 2018, by acquiring three manufacturers: the pontoon manufacturer Manitou and the aluminum boat manufacturers Alumacraft and Quintrex.
The global market for nautical products is worth 36 billion, and BRP only generates 1 billion in revenue in this segment, which the company intends to develop to expand its offering to its 3,000 dealers.
“BRP was born from innovation. We invented the snowmobile, the personal watercraft and the three-wheeler. Innovation is the crux of the matter, and our teams of engineers are working on several projects simultaneously,” explains José Boisjoli.
The next innovative product to leave BRP factories in 2024 will be a Can-Am electric motorcycle, available in two models that will have the power equivalent to a 600 cc engine. The global electric motorcycle market is estimated at 15 billion.
IMAGE TAKEN FROM BRP’S SITE
The new Origin electric motorcycle from Can-Am
“We are investing 300 million to electrify all our products. We have 200 engineers in Valcourt and 100 in Austria who only work on this. We have just manufactured our first electric snowmobiles in Valcourt. In the motorcycle sector, we want to become the Tesla of electric motorcycles, the world reference,” continues the CEO.
BRP’s other big segment of the future will be the development of products in urban mobility, a huge market worth 70 billion.
BRP last year acquired German designer and manufacturer Pinon, which has developed an ultra-compact electric motor-transmission system for electric bicycles. Pinon sells its systems to manufacturers, but will become the equipment supplier for E-Bikes that BRP will launch within three to five years.
The electric bike will become the next big market to develop. We are going to occupy the market for high-end products. Our design and development teams are working on this, but one thing is certain, we will make our own motors with our own batteries.
José Boisjoli, CEO of BRP
After its privatization in 2003, BRP became a public company again when it went public in 2013, 10 years ago, and José Boisjoli is often asked the question: what is the biggest challenge? Is it running a private company or a public company?
“I always answer that it’s much simpler to run a private company, but that you become much better when you run a public company because you have to explain your strategy well without saying too much so as not to wake up the competition. You become more strategic,” explains CEO José Boisjoli.
Corrigendum
A previous version of this text indicated that BRP had grown from two to seven product lines in 20 years. It’s more like two to eight ranges. The name of BRP’s CEO has also been corrected. This is José Boisjoli, not Boisjoly. Our apologies.