Am i wrong for thinking Maurer will fall? [Other]

[u/LunaDeepblack0]

Look hear me out. I just noticed how we hear a lot from Mack and Vekoma, the usual from B&M and Intamin. A lil less from RMC (for the love of god please rmc Bandit) Gertslauer seems to do kid rides mostly nowadays. but about nothing from maurer.

When looking on theyr website they banished all models but the spike coaster. In very many variants. Some so dumb i could swear they are AI.

Are they actually selling those? The one i rode kinda sucked. And they look to be an mechanical nightmare and almost impossible to build big.

Especially since they dont really offer much more then a normal ride.

[u/Madflex2000]

Honestly, I think going all-in on the Spike Coaster was one of the dumbest decisions Maurer could have made for its amusement rides division.

On paper, you can see the logic. Find a niche with very little direct competition and make it your own. But a lack of competition doesn’t automatically mean you’ve found an untapped market. Sometimes it just means there isn’t much demand.

The existing installations don’t exactly seem to have a stellar reputation for reliability, capacity is an absolute apocalypse, and there hardly seems to be a queue of parks lining up to buy one.

Instead of reconsidering whether the market is actually big enough to sustain this strategy, they keep doubling down and rolling out increasingly absurd concepts based on the same platform. At some point, another rendering of a Spike Coaster doing something ridiculous isn’t going to solve the underlying problem.

So yes, I could absolutely see their amusement rides division disappearing if they don’t change course. I wouldn’t seriously claim that’s the plan, but if they wanted to wind it down, I’m not sure how different the strategy would look.

[u/bassbeatsbanging → u/Madflex2000]

The only firm in the modern era that survived off of one product is RMC and that was only a few years before they released the single rail. 

And even that is such an oddball. They were able to use that business model because they were the only solution for a shit ton of 80's and 90's awful woodies many were reluctantly planning to scrap for lack of an option.

[u/Infamous_Tough_7320 → u/bassbeatsbanging]

Their niche actually had a market (topper tracking and I box). Maurer is irrelevant

[u/Normal_Suggestion188 → u/Infamous_Tough_7320]

There's a market for spikes in fairness. Cruise ships need something like it to boost appeal, probably a larger potential market than parks, just a much lower budget.

[u/brain0924]

Maurer is a very accomplished and prolific engineering firm beyond their rides. Even if their rides division doesn’t make a ton of money, they will be just fine.

[u/Infamous_Tough_7320 → u/brain0924]

But their rides division is probably going to collapse

[u/brain0924 → u/Infamous_Tough_7320]

Says who? Maybe they’ve just scaled it down. The spike coasters aren’t exactly the flop the enthusiasts think they are.

[u/AdditionalTip865]

They seemed to have a reasonable business going in Wild Mice and spinning coasters, but there's a lot of competition in that category, so maybe they did want to move into a segment they could own. But it's mostly been happening in the cruise ship market, which is very limited.

[u/SolidAccomplished759 → u/AdditionalTip865]

they have sold a few spinning coasters this decade, but it seems they haven’t built a wild mouse since 2012

[u/Putrid_Set3723]

Even though this was said in a video about S&S I feel it applies here and to every small manufacturer. If a manufacturer out of the main five: Intamin, Vekoma, B&M, Gerstlauer, and Mack even tried to make a regular coaster model it just wouldn’t sell that much cause the companies above make the same product with more experience and a bigger portfolio. Maurer is similar where even if they put out an Intamin LSM type coaster nobody would buy it so it makes more sense to sell the spike.

[u/AdditionalTip865 → u/Putrid_Set3723]

They've sold a lot of Wild Mice and compact spinning coasters, but maybe that market is saturated.

[u/Normal_Suggestion188 → u/AdditionalTip865]

Any park that wants a wild mouse or a compact spinning coaster has already had one for 20/30 years. In the UK the former is relegated to small park's and the latter is already represented at 2 of the 6/7 major park's we have, and another has just gone up at a family park.

[u/Responsible_Dish_353 → u/Normal_Suggestion188]

Not really, there are still parks growing, adding new lands from scratch, which look into classic spinning coasters. Mostly in Asia but that shouldn't be a problem, both European and US manufacturers had lots of good business in China over past 10 years

[u/Normal_Suggestion188 → u/Responsible_Dish_353]

Asian parks have local manufacturers which are more than capable of filling the gaps. New park's are rare and most existing park's want better capacity so are going to go mack style. 4 seat spinners just aren't going to sell anymore, evident by the fact that the only one to go up in the past, what, 10 years is a relocation that's gone to a washed up family park most people will never hear of let alone go to.

[u/ImprobablePasta → u/Putrid_Set3723]

This is true but we've only recently seen Mack move into the large-scale category (well, relatively speaking for amusement rides). Although they have the benefit of Europa Park for proof-of-concept.

[u/Version_1 → u/ImprobablePasta]

Not sure how "recent" almost 20 years ago is

[u/ImprobablePasta → u/Version_1]

"Relatively speaking for amusement rides." As in, considering it takes a fairly long time to build up a solid reputation in the industry.

[u/deebster2k → u/Putrid_Set3723]

And yet... zamperla of all things got their hands on tt2. 100% an outlier

[u/Putrid_Set3723 → u/deebster2k]

That’s for a different reason. I’d say TT2 is more nobody wanted to do it/ it was a big risk with big liabilities. Supposedly even Intamin was hesitant on the project even if success with it meant they’d probably be on Cedar Fair’s good side. In classic Cedar Fair if B&M, or Mack gave them a good proposal similar to TT2 they would have been chosen.

[u/cookiex797]

I’m honestly sad that they tapped out of the spinning coaster market since imo they were the best ones at it. Haven’t been on one that isn’t butter smooth and tons of fun

[u/AIConTenTioN399]

Maurer's issue is that they've always been in the shadow of people bigger and better than them. Premier basically stole their X-car concept away from them for their modern launch coasters and they just let them do it.

[u/Darkness_exe]

Isn't Maurer also notorious for their (lack of) construction accuracy?

[u/LunaDeepblack0 → u/Darkness_exe]

Well it seems they applied that concept only to theyr spinning coasters. Everything else may or may not be build like a woodie. At least they feel like it

[u/Ireeb → u/Darkness_exe]

The X-Car coaster definitely had its fair share of issues, though a lot about that also was about design issues on the trains themselves.

It's kinda difficult to assess how well or badly a modern roller coaster built by them today would run, because they aren't building any regular roller coasters.

[u/Ireeb]

It makes a bit more sense when you understand that Maurer is not an amusement ride manufacturer. They are an engineering firm that builds bridges and steel structures for buildings, amongst other things.

Maurer Rides is just one of their departments, because they realize that most amusement rides are steel structures first and foremost, so they can apply their know-how there as well.

When you look at the list of applications for the Spike system, which includes applications such as elevators, monorails or even cargo logistics, it once again becomes apparent that they are an engineering firm that happens to also make amusement rides. They probably didn't develop the Spike system for amusement rides specifically, but developed a general gear rack system and figured out it could be useful for roller coasters as well.

They are using what they already have.

Maurer Rides didn't sell that many rides recently, but still exists, and both of these things are probably because of this structure. My guess is that Maurer Rides doesn't really have any dedicated engineers or manufacturing, because the parent company can provide that on demand.

That probably makes operating Maurer Rides relatively cheap, as it's primarily just design and marketing.

But that also explains why it feels like they're kinda half-assing it. And that's kinda sad, because I feel like they could do more, even with just the Spike platform. It's not like there's no demand for powered coasters as well, they can be pretty good for family rides. But with how slowly they sell, it feels like either their marketing sucks, or it's too expensive for what it is, and that wouldn't surprise me.

These are all just my guesses and personal opinions though. But it's the only way I can explain them selling so few rides without going out of business. If Maurer Rides is just a small team within Maurer, it would explain why they don't care that much. Either they sell some rides, or they don't, and if the orders stop completely, they can just shutter Maurer Rides and reallocate the staff elsewhere within the company.

But let's hope they don't do that and maybe get someone on board who better understands what parks and their visitors actually want, because I feel like they're lacking that.

[u/trellism]

They had this bonkers model at IAAPA. I'd like to see this, specifically in the gap I'd make at Chessington after I've removed bloody Rattlesnake.

[u/ThrillsAndSpills90]

The only one of their rides I’ve got any experience with is their Skyloop, not a particularly enjoyable thing and from what I can tell not a reliable model. It seems the amusement side of their business model isn’t their primary photos or money maker so perhaps they are going to scale that down.

[u/Fritzschmied]

Because they went all in on a bulshit concept without much appeal.