The first of Malibu Boats’ new ski boat entirely designed and manufactured in Australia was bought sight unseen yesterday following a 2019 model range launch in Albury.
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The Response TXR marks a new direction for the Border company, as not only is it built at the factory on Hope Court like all their other boats, the entire design and engineering process has also taken place on Australian shores.
It is exclusive to the Australian and New Zealand market, general manager Price Taylor said.
“We’ve designed it, listening to skiiing families’ needs,” he said.
“You can ski and wakeboard behind it, and it has additional storage, space and contemporary helm design features.
“Because it’s built here, it means access to parts is easy – if people are having problems their dealer can access parts immediately.
“This is also supporting hundreds of Australian jobs.”
While Malibu is not the only manufacturer to produce a domestically designed and built boat, the company was the biggest player in the sector to do so.
Mr Taylor said where appropriate, the company would look to do undertake more of the process from start to finish in Albury.
“There’s future plans for infrastructure upgrades to the facility to meet increased demand from the market,” he said.
“This was the second best year we’ve had in 10 years – Sydney and Melbourne are our two biggest markets.”
Mr Taylor said another new model launched was the 22 LSV.
“With the 23 LSV being the best-selling towboat year after year, the 22 LSV takes that pedigree and packs it into a perfectly sized boat that families of all sizes will enjoy,” he said.
“One of the other things driving demand is popularity of the Axis brand.
“We have the big boats but we also don’t want to forget about the entry-level customers.”