Embraer is “brand new out there, so that should cause some more market excitement,” Foley said. The Latitude “can’t really be called a brand-new airplane like the 450/500 can, so that’ll be a competitive strength for the 450/500 going forward.”
Marco Tulio Pellegrini, head of the executive jets division at Embraer, said he is counting on the Legacy having the same impact on the mid-size market as Embraer’s Phenom has in the light segment. The Phenom 300 has a 57 percent market share after being introduced five years ago, he said.
“You have to enter the heart and the brain of the customer,” Pellegrini said in an interview. You have to give people something “that has no remote comparison on the market.”
Both the $17 million Legacy 450 and the $16 million Latitude claim six-foot (1.8 meter) high cabins. The Legacy 450 has two club seats that recline to create flat beds and optional belted-toilets, while the Latitude has a double, side-facing couch and seat-mounted Internet and entertainment units.
Business jet customers are demanding, and they want it all, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Ferguson said.
“This is a blingy business -- who’s got the latest model?”