Bella-Veneet Oy
Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck".
| ISIN | 🆔 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Boat building |
| Founded 📆 | May 7, 1981[1] in Kuopio, Finland |
| Founder 👔 | |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Kuopio , Finland |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Owner | Nimbus Boats Sweden AB |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 314[1] |
| 🌐 Website | www |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Bella-Veneet Oy — Bella Boats is a motorboat manufacturer located in Kuopio, Finland. The boats are produced in four factories with a total of 150 employees. Three of the factories are situated in Kuopio, Pohjois-Savo, and one in Larsmo, Ostrobothnia.[2] Since autumn 2018, the company is owned by the Swedish company Nimbus Boats.[3]
History[edit]
In 1970 Raimo Sonninen, founder of Bella Boats, starts his career by building 24 windscreen boats in his own garage. He got the first incentive into the boat building from his hobby, competitive boating. Sonninen sold his self-made catamaran type plywood boat to a South Finnish boat manufacturer and received a windscreen boat mould kit as payment.[4] The first boat immediately succeeded so well that a neighbor wanted to buy it. This was the beginning of the manufacturing of Bella boats for sale. The company started its action in Iisalmi, and from 1972 onwards operations continued in Kuopio.[5]
In 1985, Bella Boats opens a new factory at Leväsentie 1, Kuopio. Leväsentie 1 was leased from the city as early as 1974, and the manufacture of boats began. A new-build boat factory completed in 1985 at the same address, and it paid for itself in two years.[6]
1986 Italian racing driver and boat builder Renato Molinari sells the Falcon day cruiser moulds to Bella and Bella develops a cabin version.[7] In the same year, Sonninen was rewarded with an Entrepreneur Award by the City of Kuopio.[8] Design cooperation was carried out with Molinari, while strengthening cooperation with top Finnish designers Tor Hinders and Sven Lindkvist.[6]
1989 the new factory, Väliköntie 10, is completed.[7] The factory has four production lines and at best one boat is completed from each line per day.[9] With the new plant, the number of employees rose from 35 to 80, and Bella Boats ended up training the new employees together with the Employment Office in Kuopio due to the high and rapid need. In total, four courses of half a year in boat building would be organised over two years.[10]
During the 1980s Bella-Boats’ development was steadily growing. Towards the end of the decade, the boats were made in as many as eight factories, two of them own and six by subcontractors. Turnover reached over 70 million Finnish marks in the best years.[5] Between 1987 and 1990, the average sales growth was 39 per cent. Consequently, the biggest competitor on the Finnish market at that time were the old, second-hand Bella boats.[11]
Towards the end of the decade, Bella got its’ share of the effects of high demand as well; there was no need to sell any boats, answering the phone and writing down the orders was enough. At that time, the company decided to invest in exports. Sweden was a success, so the next target was Central Europe.[12]
The Falcon, designed by Molinari, continued as the flagship of Bella Boats. At the 1989 Oslo boat show, the Bella 640 HT was selected as the winner of the hard top category.[13] The Bella Falcon 35, which became the flagship in the early 1990s, continued the tendency from the previous decade to bring new concepts to the Finnish boat world. However, the expensive yacht failed to find its target audience in the midst of the deepest recession, and only four boats were manufactured.[14] The Falcon 26, on the other hand, proved to be a success; over 1,000 boats were manufactured from 1988 until the 2010s.[15]
The turnover of Bella Boats totalled around 70 million Finnish marks in 1989.[16] However, a record result was achieved the following year, 1990, when turnover reached 74 million Finnish marks. From that point forward, revenue declined as a result of the recession years, but the operation still remained profitable. The strength of Bella Boats was the arrangement of operations in accordance with demand during the difficult years of recession.[12]
During the recession years, several boating companies went bankrupt. Among the companies that filed for bankruptcy were some that were seeking quick profit but even professionals who had based their business on a healthy foundation.[5] An example of the latter was the selling of Flipper to Bella in 1992.
1992 Bella Boats buys the rights, moulds and the brand name of Flipper Boats.[17] In the same year, the first sales office was established in Sweden[18] and Raimo Sonninen was awarded the national entrepreneur award.[19]
The purchase of Flipper, resulting in two of Finland’s biggest boat brands ending under one roof, was a news item in the European boat industry.[12] Bella Boats began to target foreign markets, particularly Central Europe and Japan, where the impact of the recession was less pronounced. In some countries there were more dealers available than needed, and it can be said that the strong share of exports saved the company over the years of recession.[20] On the other hand, it was difficult to increase the Finnish market share anymore, as Bella already held a 50 per cent share of the Finnish market in the category of mid-size boats.[5]
In autumn 1992 Bella Boats employed 70 people, 60 of them in production.[6] The company had at its disposal the most modern production facility in Europe, the design of which was based on lessons from abroad and the services of top industry experts.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Bella-Veneet Oy". vainu.io (in suomi). Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ↑ "Bella-Veneet Oy myyty Nimbus Boats Sweden AB:lle | Bella-Veneet Oy". www.sttinfo.fi (in suomi). Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ↑ Hämäläinen, Veli-Pekka (4 December 2018). "Bella-Veneiden perustaja myy elämäntyönsä Ruotsiin – aloitti 1970-luvulla autotallista, kasvatti yhden Suomen suurimmista venetehtaista". Yle Uutiset (in suomi). Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ↑ Karusuo, Pete (2000). "Syöksy-Sonninen". Vene (in suomi) (5).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Viskari, Pekka (1992). "Bella-Veneet – Vetten kaunottaria". Valtakunnallinen yrittäjäpalkinto (in suomi): 14-15.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Yritysesittely: Bella-Veneet Oy "Tämä ei enää ole mitään puuhastelua",". Finnboat News (in suomi): 8-9. 1992.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jalkanen, Sari (2013). "Bella-Veneet". NMT (in suomi) (4): 40-43.
- ↑ Ruokolainen, Martti (1990). "Veneen tekijä". City (in suomi): 10.
- ↑ "Veneteollisuus ottaa tuotantomallia autoista". Helsingin Sanomat (in suomi): 23. 6 February 1989.
- ↑ Virtanen, Hannu (18 August 1988). "Bella-Veneet kouluttaa työntekijät yhdessä työvoimaviranomaisen kanssa". Teollisuusviikko (in suomi): 9.
- ↑ Laurila, Mauri (1992). "Yrittäjä koko elämänsä". YIT (in suomi): 25.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Sepponen, Mikko (1995). "Bella on laman harvoja voittajia" (in suomi).
- ↑ "MB ja Bellan imago". Johtotähti (in suomi) (2): 24. 1989.
- ↑ Pöyhönen, Eero (2016). "Maskuliininen Bellissimo". Kippari (in suomi) (7): 84-89.
- ↑ Kuronen, Markku (2011). "Ajettava kestosuosikki". Venemestari (in suomi) (3).
- ↑ "Bellalla huikea kehityskaari". Ratas (in suomi) (5): 4. 1989.
- ↑ Halonen, Antti (31 October 2019). "Rakkaudesta veneisiin". www.iltalehti.fi (in suomi). Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ↑ Saukonsaari, Kirsi (1995). "Perheyritys kestänyt tyynet ja myrskyt". Hyvä yritys! (in suomi): 13.
- ↑ Saarela, Ahti (11 October 1992). "Suomessa tarvitaan ainakin 50 000 uutta yritystä 1990-luvulla". Kainuun Sanomat (in suomi): 6.
- ↑ Lommi, Ilpo (12 October 1992). "Bella pitää suomalaista veneteollisuutta pinnalla". Kauppalehti (in suomi): 11.
This article "Bella-Veneet Oy" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Bella-Veneet Oy. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
