It’ll take a lot more than a rough patch to slow José Boisjoli down.
Serving as president and CEO of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) since spinning off from its parent company in 2003, the 66-year-old has seen global economic challenges diminish discretionary spending before.
“Sometimes it lasts 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, but it always comes back,” Boisjoli says. “Right now, we’re in a more difficult period, but in a matter of time it will come back, and I believe we are extremely well positioned in the industry to continue our growth.”
Born and raised in the small Quebec town of Wickham — just outside of Drummondville — Boisjoli began riding snowmobiles at age 10 and motocross bikes at age 12. After earning a degree in engineering at Université de Sherbrooke he began his career in the pharmaceutical industry, then launched a food packaging manufacturing company with a friend, but says he never felt passionate about his work. That was until he landed his first job at BRP in 1989.
“I will always remember, after I passed the interview, they brought me into the factory,” Boisjoli says. “After I saw all those Ski-Doos lined up on the assembly line, I would have worked there for half the pay — but I didn’t tell them that.”
Though most Canadians are more familiar with the train and plane manufacturer that bears his name, Joseph-Armand Bombardier is credited with inventing the first vehicle designed to travel on snow in his garage in Valcourt, Que., where BRP is headquartered today.
The company remains the global leader on the snow — with its flagship Ski-Doo brand commanding 60 per cent of global market share — but has since expanded into recreational vehicles for all kinds of terrain. That includes water sport brands like Sea-Doo, on-and-off-road vehicle maker Can-Am, and recreational vehicle engine maker Rotax.
The company employs 20,000 workers across 14 manufacturing facilities in seven countries, including Canada, and distributes its products to customers in 130 countries through a network for 3,000 dealers.
The last few years, however, have proven difficult on the company and the industry, as it manages the lingering effects of the pandemic on supply chains, consumer spending and interest rates. In October BRP put its marine division up for sale to refocus on its flagship powersports products, and in early December laid off 120 staff before reporting a 17.5 per cent drop in annual revenues.
The Star spoke with Boisjoli during a recent visit to the company’s Montreal office about how the unexpected breakoff from the parent company proved a blessing in disguise, why he’s confident the current market challenges are only temporary, the effort to create an eco-friendlier recreational vehicle industry, and the joys of landing his childhood dream job.
How did you find out that your parent company was cutting you loose?
In the spring of 2003 Bombardier was going through a tough period and announced they were selling the reactional product division, and it was a shock for everyone.
As the president of the snowmobile, watercraft and ATV decision at the time, they brought me in at 5 p.m. the day prior to the public announcement and asked me to meet all the employees in Vallencourt at 7:30 the next morning. They gave me a script, and they told me not to go off it.
The next day I went on stage in front of 2,000 people in the arena that we own in town, reading off the script, and there was no reaction from the crowd, and at some point, I decided to go off script.
I told everyone that in the beginning, I was mad, but now I see an opportunity. This was our chance to prove to the world that we can be successful on our own, that we can compete against the Americans, Japanese and Europeans. We’re like a teenager that must leave their parents’ house and prove to the world they can be an adult. We took it as a challenge.
What was that strategy?
The strategy was quite simple, and we’re still following the strategy today, which is to diversify our product portfolio, build the best products in our categories, and attract the best dealers in the world. If we do that, we can diversify our manufacturing footprint. This was the vision, and we said we can do it by hiring people that are passionate about what we do, that endorse our culture, and by pushing technology and innovation.
To what extent is that innovation transferable across product lines?
In 2010 I visited a European car company, and I saw how they designed products with a modular approach, and I was amazed. I wanted to do the same here.
It took us a year to figure out a system and guidelines to design and engineer it, and the first product we launched with that design was the Can-Am Defender in 2012. Today, the power steering we use on our Can-Am ATV, side-by-side (two-passenger off-road vehicle) and spider (three-wheel motorcycle) use the same hardware, but different software.
Our 900 CC three-cylinder engine is used for our snowmobiles, watercrafts, side-by-side, and three-wheel vehicles, and we have over 100,000 engines that can go into four different product lines. With a modular approach we can leverage a volume advantage and be more cost-efficient.
What’s your pitch to those that haven’t tried motorsports?
One element is discovery; to have the ride of your life through a desert in the Middle East or on the mountains of Finland or the Canadian wilderness, those moments are all about having a unique experience in nature.
There is also an element of personal connection. I made my best friend riding our product. When you go out on the water or the snow with a group of people, there is always that element of doing it together.
So, it’s not just for adrenalin junkies?
There will always be those people looking for a rush, and we try to speak to them all the time, but that audience has not and will not disappear. There is another type of consumer that uses our products more for utility, and we are speaking to them too.
For example, our Defender side-by-side has a sport model and a utility model, and the utility model is now 60 per cent of our Defender sales, so it’s a big trend right now.
Why are they suddenly so popular?
A lot of people are using them for farming, fishing, hunting, camping, and it’s our job to come up with products that our customers want.
How do you determine what they want?
If you ask the customer what they want, they don’t know, because they don’t know our capacity. I always tell our people it’s our job to go out there and ride with the customers.
A few years ago, we observed that some people were crossing mud with ATVs and we were the first to develop a specialized ATV with a lift suspension and big tires that can go through a muddy forest.
We saw a trend in New Zealand where some customers were putting $10,000 to $15,000 of equipment to go fishing on Sea-Doos. We asked a few designers and engineers to go fishing with them for two weeks, and when they got back, we developed the Sea-Doo FishPro. Today we have three different models of FishPros, and it costs half as much as buying all the equipment they were using.
Why did you choose to put your marine business up for sale in October?
During COVID the industry had difficulty with the supply chain, and when the supply chain resolved, too many manufacturers pushed too much inventory, dealers accepted that inventory, then the market softened. So right now, dealers have too much inventory. Prices also increased more than normal during COVID, and with high interest rates — 60 per cent of our customers finance their products — that adds more pressure.
We knew 2024 would be a correction year, we reduced our inventory at the dealer by 15 to 20 per cent, but we thought it would just be one year. Now we believe with the macroeconomic conditions it will probably be two.
In 2018 we purchased three boat companies to develop that part of the business, we were on our way there, but with the state of the industry, we decided to double down on power sports, where we have the core of our business.
Has it slowed your investment in electrification?
The trend is out there, it was growing at a fast pace, but the price has gone up very quickly in the last few years, and with the current destabilization the price will go down.
Four years ago, seeing the trend, we decided to develop our own technology, and now we have one electric engine and battery system that is used on snowmobiles, and a two-wheel we launched in August, which will come out in 2025. That’s our advantage; we have multiple product lines and can leverage our modular design.
It’s a long-term investment, and right now we need to slow the investment on EV implementation, but depending on the demand we will adjust our plans. Even if it slows down, this is the future of our industry.
As someone who landed their dream job what’s your advice to others?
When young people ask me for advice I always say when you look for your first job, find something you’re passionate about, and a company that has the right culture. If you find those two, get in any way you can, even if it’s not the best job, because you will grow within the company.
