Icon laying off employees....

Farmboy said:
And the house begins to crumble. Could have written this a few years ago.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christi...ht-in-storm-of-its-own-creation/#66a19e65241b
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From the linked article:

"...In spite of the negatives, Hawkins said the company anticipated a new infusion of money from people and in amounts he would not disclose, but who understand they are unlikely to make money on the A5 for a considerable time.

“Turns out there are investors not looking for immediate returns,” Hawkins said. “There are long term investors look at the long horizon...”


LOL. A "long term investor not looking for immediate returns" is a buyer of distressed assets.

 
The Icon killer existed long before Icon came to market.
Two guys and full fuel and still flys great under $150k.

http://searey.com

Fits the yacht with ease.
image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
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Farmboy said:
The Icon killer existed long before Icon came to market.
Two guys and full fuel and still flys great under $150k.

http://searey.com

Fits the yacht with ease.
View attachment 45682 View attachment 45683 View attachment 45685
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And yet, no Icons were killed. For people willing to put down money on an Icon, the Searey is exactly the kind of plane they don't want. Searey sales aren't exactly setting any records.

Icon is just going through what lots of other airplane companies before them have, lack of funds and mismanagement. All the money they had is spent and now production is supposed to begin. Due to an idiot PA that was supposed to drastically lower their insurance costs, incoming money is stopped. Their "lack of skilled labor" excuse is straight up bull crap. They are lacking the money to pay that labor and in addition, they are lacking the money to build an actual factory. They put on a good show to get people whipped up, but now there is no performance.

If the airplane is truly a good airplane, what will happen is Icon will go belly up and someone will buy the assets pennies on the dollar and with an infusion of Chinese money, will start building airplanes, but with different name.
 
Other than cosmetics, there is nothing that really sets the Icon apart from any other light sport seaplane. It doesn't perform any better, doesn't carry any more load, and yet cost twice as much. the only real advantage I see is the folding wings.
 
Dav8or said:
And yet, no Icons were killed. For people willing to put down money on an Icon, the Searey is exactly the kind of plane they don't want. Searey sales aren't exactly setting any records.
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Can you expand on what you mean here? What is exactly not what they want? The visible wheels? The fabric? At a glance they look pretty similar. Apple vs. Samsung similar, wonder if Searay ever thought about suing :)
 
Dav8or said:
And yet, no Icons were killed. For people willing to put down money on an Icon, the Searey is exactly the kind of plane they don't want. Searey sales aren't exactly setting any records.

Icon is just going through what lots of other airplane companies before them have, lack of funds and mismanagement. All the money they had is spent and now production is supposed to begin. Due to an idiot PA that was supposed to drastically lower their insurance costs, incoming money is stopped. Their "lack of skilled labor" excuse is straight up bull crap. They are lacking the money to pay that labor and in addition, they are lacking the money to build an actual factory. They put on a good show to get people whipped up, but now there is no performance.

If the airplane is truly a good airplane, what will happen is Icon will go belly up and someone will buy the assets pennies on the dollar and with an infusion of Chinese money, will start building airplanes, but with different name.
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Exactly, the searay looks like something a dude built in their garage, it lacks the fit and finish of the icon by miles, folks who got a quarter mil to spend on a amphib are going to ether get a 185, 206, spend a little more on a DHC2, or they are going to want something with the same finish as their Benz, and that's where the icon comes in.


And I agree 100% with the second part, they pulled off a good little plane, price, well it's a new plane so I can't really knock the price tag, but that purchase agreement, they really gutted themselves with that.
 
Grum.Man said:
Other than cosmetics, there is nothing that really sets the Icon apart from any other light sport seaplane. It doesn't perform any better, doesn't carry any more load, and yet cost twice as much. the only real advantage I see is the folding wings.
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exncsurfer said:
Can you expand on what you mean here? What is exactly not what they want? The visible wheels? The fabric? At a glance they look pretty similar. Apple vs. Samsung similar, wonder if Searay ever thought about suing :)
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You guys are not the target market. You guys don't get how to market expensive products to discerning buyers with lots of disposable cash. Fit, finish, design and aesthetics are all very important as much as performance.

One airplane looks exactly like what it is, an amateur build, do it yourself kit plane and the other looks like a professionally built and designed piece of recreational equipment. One is super slick and the other is Billy Bob's awesome puddle jumper. The Searey may actually be a better plane by the numbers, but there is more than that when it comes to the sale of expensive equipment.
 
They are having trouble finding skilled labor so they are laying off 150 people? I don't think Hawkins is telling the whole story here.
 
Silvaire said:
They are having trouble finding skilled labor so they are laying off 150 people? I don't think Hawkins is telling the whole story here.
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Agreed. It's a smoke screen and bull crap. The 150 layoffs are the skilled labor they can't afford right now.
 
Perhaps they have been having trouble finding sufficiently skilled labor to fill the top management positions.
 
Silvaire said:
They are having trouble finding skilled labor so they are laying off 150 people? I don't think Hawkins is telling the whole story here.
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That's what happens if you try to set up a manufacturing operation in middle of nowhere in the most expensive state in the nation. Reminds me of some of the solar panel boondoggles.
 
EppyGA said:
Reminds one of Elio Motors. They keep saying they're going to build this car that gets 84MPG. No product in sight.
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Yep, that "company" is the biggest swindle. They still claim they can sell their vehicle for $6990, or something like that. That is the biggest load of crap yet. Reserve your delivery position today!!! Just put your money down!!
 
Dav8or said:
Yep, that "company" is the biggest swindle. They still claim they can sell their vehicle for $6990, or something like that. That is the biggest load of crap yet. Reserve your delivery position today!!! Just put your money down!!
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Wait! But aren't they delivering units "next year"? :p
 
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