Bavaria looks to expand world markets

More global focus, more local application, and an expanded range

Bavaria Yachts, the second-biggest producer of sail and powerboats in Europe, is looking to take a bigger chunk of world markets with more boats and more staff, says Sales Director Domenico La Marte.

We caught up with Mr La Marte during his recent trip to Australia and found that some interesting changes are being made at the German company.

CHANGES AT THE TOP

Domenico La Marte is one of a new team of six sales directors, each with their own area of the world to take care of. Interestingly, many of them come from an automotive background.

"Previously, we had one sales director for world markets," he said. "Now we have a dynamic team of six who will each be responsible for their own sectors.

"My background is automotive and previously I was employed by Fiat in the head office in Italy. My immediate boss is also from Fiat as is one of the other sales directors. The CEO Jens Ludmann formerly worked for Ford.

"The move towards hiring from the auto industry indicates that Bavaria is looking to get a more modern approach to its sales and marketing -- moving away from the more staid approach of the boating industry into the more dynamic way that the auto world does things.

"We want to invest more in this market," said the ebullient sales director. "We want to understand more the needs of the dealers and the customers. We want to do more after-sales and work through out dealers to make sure our customers are getting top-class sales and service."

THREE BRANDS

Bavaria Yachtbau, which is owned by two venture capital companies -- Oaktree and Anchorage -- currently operates three manufacturers: Bavaria, Dufour and Grand Soleil. Mr La Marte said that the three brands are a good mix for the company, with Bavaria being the more affordable cruising yachts and powerboats; Dufour having a slightly more performance orientation; and Grand Soleil covering the luxury, or top-end, of the sailing market.

According to La Marte, Bavaria is looking for synergies between the brands: "In terms of back-room staffing and purchasing, we are certainly looking at Synergies," he said. "But we are going to keep them quite separate in terms of their branding and identities," he added.

Sales of the brands have remained quite stable for the current year (which runs from August to July). "This year we are trying to just keep up with the numbers we did for the last sales year, which was 1,200 boats for Bavaria, around 450 for Dufour, and 60 for Grand Soleil.

In Europe, sales of Bavarias are around 60 per cent sailing boats and 40 per cent power. Here, however, the breakup is more like 80/20, as the Bavaria powerboats haven’t been long on our market.

The most popular-size Bavaria was, La Marte said, in the 40-45ft range but the company was looking to get some new markets -- interestingly smaller ones.

"With the release of our new Bavaria 23 B/one, we are looking to get into a totally new market," he said. "These boats will be a small sloop with the aim being affordable one-design racing." The B/one was released in Dusseldorf and will offer and retractable keel to make the boat trailerable yet the bulb still carries 370kg of ballast.

"The B/one will also be perfect for sailing schools," said La Marte. "It will carry a crew of two or three normally, but can carry up to seven. The rig is powerful yet easy to use and the boat carries an asymmetric kite on a retractable bowsprit."

Another interesting launch at Dusseldorf was the Vision 46. This is another boat designed in conjunction with Farr Yacht Design and Domenico is certain that it’ll find favour in this country.

The Vision 46 is obviously designed to do battle with Beneteau’s new Oceanis 45 and that company’s Sense range. It features Bavaria’s Dock Control which is a joystick docking system that uses the engine plus bow and stern thrusters to make docking the boat a simple process.

The interior is all new and can be ordered in two-cabin or three-cabin layouts. An asymmetric companionway allows for a large lounge and dinette in the cockpit that can be transformed into a luxurious double sunlounge.

Other features include electric ‘in-and-out’ winches that enable effortless trimming and tacking.

Both boats are expected to be here for the Sydney International Boat Show in August.

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Bavaria looks to expand world markets

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