Industry News: Catamaran Brands Acquired By Monohull Manufacturers
The multihull market is very competitive and absolutely on fire right now. News stories of monohull manufacturers acquiring catamaran brands have abounded since the beginning of the year. The monohull giants like Bavaria Yachts, Hanse Yachts, Group Beneteau and Dufour Yachts, all obviously want to capitalise on this high growth segment of the sailing market and have been trying to figure out how to take advantage of it.
While many newer and smaller yards like HH Catamarans or McConaghy Yachts are producing exiting new catamarans, they produce small volumes in the far east right now and is not attaractive to them. Therefor the more well known French production catamaran brands are being scooped up by the yacht manufacturers in order to expand their own market presence as the monohull market softens. The big monohull guys have all made their moves this year to get their share of this growing market.
The news of new catamaran developments, new designs, new mergers and acquisitions etc. coming out of the multihull world is exciting and is sure to shake things up. Sales of catamarans are absolutely exploding in the market place! We plan to attend the Cannes Yachting Festival in France in September to check out all the new catamaran debuts. Here is how all this is shaking out:
Privilege Marine & Hanse Yachts
From what we understand, the big German group, Hanse Yachts, made a strategic play by acquiring Privilege Catamarans. The brand is very well known for luxury desings, good quality and good sailing ability but they produce low volumes, are pricey and have been struggling for a while, so this may be a great development for the yard. Hanse Yachts has acquired a majority stake in French catamaran builder Privilège, which will continue as an independent brand but production will ramp up substantially.
Nautitech & Bavaria Yachts
Bavaria Yachts, Germany’s biggest builder of recreational monohull boats, has acquired Nautitech catamarans, which extends Bavaria’s reach into the fastest growing part of the sailing market. The Nautitech brand is the brainchild of Bruno Voisard, the founder and driving force behind Nautitech’s quick rise to success. He will stay on as a partner and plan to up the production of the Nautitech.
Lagoon Catamarans & Beneteau Group
The Beneteau Group, currently the world number two in boating and sailing, is planning to further strengthen its leadership in the multihull segment by launching a new catamaran brand in the market. Their highly successful Lagoon catamaran range is already the world leader in this segment, with a €650 million turnover for a thousand units, which accounts for almost a third of the multihulls sold in the world each year. But according to the group’s leader, Hervé Gastinel, the addition of a new brand will complement Lagoon and cement their title as the wolrd leaders in multihulls market. Just how that will affect their Lagoon brand, is anyone’s guess since they will obviously want to target a different market than they currently dominate. We hope to see some new designs from them rolled out soon!
New Catamaran Range For Sunreef Yachts
Sunreef Yachts will not only display three new custom catamarans at the Cannes Boat Show (Sunreef Supreme 68 Power catamaran, Sunreef 62 Adea and Sunreef 74 Calmao) but will also unveil a new line of catamarans and celebrate 15 years of success in the industry. We were invited by Sunreef to attend the unveiling of these models and do seatrials while in Cannes. Like with Group Beneteau, Sunreef recognizes a place in the market for another catamaran brand apart from their luxury brand. We are not as familiar with the Sunreef brand as we are with some of the other brands, so this will be a great time to explore and report back to our multihull fans!
Join Us At The Cannes Yachting Festival September 12-17, 2017
The Cannes Boat Show will be the place to be this fall, which is essentially the start of the season for boat shows. At this show we will see the unveiling of all the new catamaran models on the market and we will get the scoop for all the new developments in catamaran manufacturing. We are excited to visit all the manufacturers and see their new offerings like the Fountaine Pajot with their new 67ft model, HH Catamarans and the Catana 70, to name but a few.
Join us as we tour these new models or make an appointment to visit with us.
Own Your Catamaran At A Reduced Cost
We have represented a number of buyers over the years who have purchased catamarans for personal use and who have also placed their yachts into different charter programs. The owners all try to reduce the cost of ownership. Many, if not all of these catamarans are in some type of business arrangement, be it our
- Business Yacht Ownership Program with Tax Advantages
- Fractional Yacht Ownership NOT timeshare – there is a big difference!
- Conventional Crewed Yacht Programs
- By The Cabin Charter Program
- Membership Programs
- Conventional Bareboat Charter Programs
Catamaran Guru is specialize in finding solutions for yacht owners to reduce the cost of yacht ownership and has helped countless people to personalize a plan to help offset the cost of ownership. If you are in the market for a catamaran and would like to find out how you can afford one, call us for a free consultation.
