Beneteau make US Top 10 in Q2
Quarterly trend report shows several imported brands making headway in America’s 30ft and above segment
According to the most recent quarterly report for 30ft-plus boat sales in the US, Beneteau now ranks tenth in the American market for larger motorboats.
Brunswick Corporation is the US market share leader in motorboats 30 feet and above claiming about 20 per cent of the market, but CEO Dusty McCoy recently acknowledged the company has been losing ground to imported brands in the 30ft-50ft range. Among these competitors is the Beneteau Group, whose sales data for the US is broken out for the first time into both power and sail segments for boats 30ft and above in the most recent Statistical Survey’s Quarterly Trend report for IBI Plus.
Beneteau’s results in America are consistent with financial reports released by the company over the past year stating that its strategy to increase investment in the motorboat sector and focus on the higher growth potential in the US market has been on target. At the builder’s most recent press conference at the Cannes Boat Show, Group president Bruno Cathelinais said that the US would represent 15 per cent of business for 2013, whereas it traditionally accounted for 7 per cent.
Overall, the Quarterly Trend Report shows total US sales of fibreglass boats 30ft and above slowed through the second quarter of 2013 down to 3 per cent growth year-on-year (y/y) compared to 12 per cent in the previous period. As in Europe, much of the US suffered a slow spring selling season due to colder and wetter-than-normal weather across much of the nation through May.
However, the report indicates that the motorboat segment performed better than sailboats with 30ft-plus motorboat sales up nearly 5 per cent y/y (or about 1,170 units through June) while sales of 30ft-plus sailboats were off approximately -2 per cent compared to Q2 2012.
Although preliminary estimates of total sales of fibreglass boats in America have been previously published, there is a time lag on accessing complete data for the large boat segment, which is presented in detail on IBI Plus in the accompanying quarterly report.
In addition to showing the overall performance of the big boat market in the US, the report also shows the quarterly progress and ranking of the top 20 market leaders in both the 30ft-plus motorboat and sailboat sectors in the US based on unit sales.
Other imported brands among the top US sellers during Q2 2013 included Azimut, Ferretti, Prince Yachts, Bavaria, Robertson and Caine, Hanse, Dufour, Fountaine Pajot, Delphia and Elan.
