New Azimut UK dealer

[Nautical]

LOL , I guess like all boats there are elements of one design mixed with another, aka, flybridge market, getting very difficult to tell one from another these days.

But, Trident, different animal under the skin, proper offshore / pants weather capable and huge range , walk in/ stand up engine room, full beam master (not one with up and down steps and overhead dropped recess over the bed to get it squeezed in), good crew cabin and even a little workshop, runs on the smell of an oily rag at displacement speed. Tank tested at 1.5m waves at short (messy) 7 sec intervals @ 17 knots and maximum vertical acceleration = 1/10th of a G which I am told is a very sexy number to the naval architect boffins and the tank facility apparently .

 

[jfm]

New show coming early next year to Lonodn which we will be at with our bigger stuff, sold out already, some big names behind it and looks very promising for the London brokerage and new build market.

http://www.londonyachtjetandprestigecarshow.com/

Hi T. Being based in City of London I have got wind of that show, unsurprisingly. Alas I think they have the formula wrong by including cars. For folks who buy planes or big boats a new car is commodity you get delivered, whereas a boat/plane is special. The show will therefore have the background noise of London car dealers all over the place I fear. That risks putting some visitors off, and I'm therefore sceptical it will attract the real audience you want, though I hope I'm wrong of course and I wish you well with it

 

[Nautical]

Hi J

You could be right, being the first I am guessing they are trying to cover all bases. No doubt first year will be a bit of an experiment to see how it hangs together.

Having said that from the floor plan looks like only about 20% is High end supercars, RR, Aston, Lambo etc, the rest is private jets, Helicopters and yachts. In the gallery there is a raft of mega expensive bespoke watch makers, jewellers , fine wines and general bling , you know, the stuff with no price tag, if you have to ask you can't afford, ala Russian and Chinese open cheque book type buyers.

Seems many of the majors have signed up CRN, Oyster, Royal Huisman, Baglietto, Fincantieri, Lurssen, Oceanco, etc and our own home grown fayre.

Will give it a whizz and see what happens, jeez can't be any worse than LIBS

 

[rubberduck]

Hi T. Being based in City of London I have got wind of that show, unsurprisingly. Alas I think they have the formula wrong by including cars. For folks who buy planes or big boats a new car is commodity you get delivered, whereas a boat/plane is special. The show will therefore have the background noise of London car dealers all over the place I fear. That risks putting some visitors off, and I'm therefore sceptical it will attract the real audience you want, though I hope I'm wrong of course and I wish you well with it

Budding billionaires gotta start somewhere !

 

[RogerRat]

There are lots of British buyers of large motoryachts, and whilst few of them choose to keep the boat in Britain, I think a lot are bought through UK dealers. I don't know the figures, but I wouldn't be surprised if only the US spends more as a country on large motoryachts than the UK.

I'm pretty sure these are the buyers that Azimut is targetting by opening a London office, not the 40 footer to be kept in the Solent.

Good point, I was offering the UK market as boats based and used in the UK. which I think is valid. I accept though that buyers of the larger boats for use in the Med will almost certainly know who Azimut are but I wouldn't expect them to buy in the UK so does it count as UK market?

Well of course it does because they're UK buyers.

But I hope you can see why I posted that way. :encouragement:

RR

 

[Nick_H]

I accept though that buyers of the larger boats for use in the Med will almost certainly know who Azimut are but I wouldn't expect them to buy in the UK so does it count as UK market?

When the same buyers choose a British marque, they often buy in the UK regardless of where they plan to keep the boat. By way of example, Jfm, Hurricane, and Magnum all bought large new motoryachts from UK dealers to keep in the med, and I think this is the norm not the exception. It reduces risk and hassle for the buyer to deal with a UK dealer, so if Azimut want a bigger share of the "Med based, British buyer" market, they are doing the right think by opening a London office IMO.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

When the same buyers choose a British marque, they often buy in the UK regardless of where they plan to keep the boat. By way of example, Jfm, Hurricane, and Magnum all bought large new motoryachts from UK dealers to keep in the med, and I think this is the norm not the exception. It reduces risk and hassle for the buyer to deal with a UK dealer, so if Azimut want a bigger share of the "Med based, British buyer" market, they are doing the right think by opening a London office IMO.

I think also that Azimut have noticed that the UK economy is just about the only EU economy exhibiting any growth at present and want a slice of whatever little pie is going in the UK. However, if they are thinking about the Med based British buyer, then it doesn't seem to be reflected in their advertising strategy, at least in the current MBY, which seems to be suggesting that their Magellano range is 'designed for British people' and has the kind of tufty tufty hull form which will go well in UK waters.
On this subject, what does the panel think about the Magellano range in general? I looked over the M43 at SIBS and I thought it was a nicely screwed together boat with a touch of Italian flair but the price at €600k+ seems to be on the high side compared to other 43 footers. I like the fact that it is a Bill Dixon design and should be good in the rough but, if the fuel consumption figures given in the MBY ad are correct, its not going to win any awards for economy. Less than 1mpg at 16kts is not going to appeal to some UK buyers. Lastly what about that plumb bow? It looks cool but does it really slice through a head sea as Azimut seem to be claiming and if it does, why don't other boats have a similar bow?

 

[rafiki_]

Mike, interesting observations. I guess the launch event in October will help to clarify the new dealers aspirations in the UK market. Are they focussing on the superyacht end, or the UK boater market? Just to clarify, I believe this is not a factory dealership, but the ownership is with the French fanchise. Again, we will learn more next month.

 

[Nautibusiness]

First time back in for months... hello all.

Some of you may already know Nick Trainer of Meridian Yachts.
I know him rather well as he is my Father in Law.
Nick has been involved with PB Yachting's move into the UK on a logistical front (no direct involvement) including trying to get the Magellano 43 here in time for the show and subsequently has been the skipper on the past weekends sea trials.

Second hand info, but according to Nick, who has rather a lot of Azimut experience, the boat is very sure footed. She feels well planted and for her size is extremely pleasant to helm.
22 or 23 knots is as much as you will squeeze from her (or at least the demo boat), but she is very happy cruising at 18. In fact he did comment that she was very happy at pretty much any speed up to 18.

You are right about the thoughts behind the Mayfair office. They are looking to capture a different market to the Solent one, however I am of the opinion that they recognise the need for a South Coast base too. One that will focus on the UK boater not just the UK buyer. This office, if and when it comes and in whatever guise it will form (sub dealer or a PB Yachting office) will also be a focus for pre loved Azimuts based here and in sunnier climes.

Errr, the marketing was definitely pants re the Magellano wasn't it.
Whoever came up with the strap line (not a quote from memory), "Magellano, the UK boat designed by Italians" needs to move their career from marketing to accountancy or something similarly dull.

I am something of an Azimut fan having had very (very) loose involvement since I originally joined the marine industry in 2002 and in more recent years seen my father in laws involvement.
My wedding car taking me to my reception 3 years ago was actually a rather nice Azimut 50 that Nick borrowed.

I wish PB Yachting success with the brand with UK buyers wherever they use their boat and whatever size they purchase.

 

[Hugo_Andreae]

As it happens Dave Marsh and Lester McCarthy have just come back from an MBY trip to Jersey and back on board the Magellano 43 to see if it really does live up to Azimut's rather bold claim of being the "Best Boat for British People".

Not sure we would go quite that far but by all accounts it did cope very well with typical British cruising conditions that included fog, tidal races, sunshine, showers and every sea state you'd expect to find on this classic passage. We'll be publishing the full story in one of the next few issues of Motor Boat & Yachting.

On a similar note we were wondering whether we should try and stage another of MBY's reader sea trial events for potential buyers but this time with a range of different boats and hull forms including the Magellano 43 and a couple of British rivals such as a Broom, Princess 43, Aquastar or similar. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what we should have along and whether there are enough serious buyers interested in sea-trialling this size/style of boat?

The other possibility would be for smaller, sportier boats such as XO, Paragon, Draco etc. Again we'd need to be certain we attracted genuine potential customers. Your thoughts please?

Hugo

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

On a similar note we were wondering whether we should try and stage another of MBY's reader sea trial events for potential buyers but this time with a range of different boats and hull forms including the Magellano 43 and a couple of British rivals such as a Broom, Princess 43, Aquastar or similar. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what we should have along and whether there are enough serious buyers interested in sea-trialling this size/style of boat?

Not personally interested in buying any of those but that lot would make an interesting comparison of different hull forms. How about including a Trader 42 and Hardy 42 which are both SD hulled boats that buyers looking at this type of boat might include on a shortlist? Yup I'd read that article, particularly if you can engineer some gnarly sea conditions, because I've always wondered whether a good SD hull really is that much more comfy than a good planing hull in marginal conditions

 

[Hugo_Andreae]

Not personally interested in buying any of those but that lot would make an interesting comparison of different hull forms. How about including a Trader 42 and Hardy 42 which are both SD hulled boats that buyers looking at this type of boat might include on a shortlist? Yup I'd read that article, particularly if you can engineer some gnarly sea conditions, because I've always wondered whether a good SD hull really is that much more comfy than a good planing hull in marginal conditions

Good call. I will have a word with both of these yards to see if they are able to lend us a suitable boat.

 

[rafiki_]

As it happens Dave Marsh and Lester McCarthy have just come back from an MBY trip to Jersey and back on board the Magellano 43 to see if it really does live up to Azimut's rather bold claim of being the "Best Boat for British People".

Not sure we would go quite that far but by all accounts it did cope very well with typical British cruising conditions that included fog, tidal races, sunshine, showers and every sea state you'd expect to find on this classic passage. We'll be publishing the full story in one of the next few issues of Motor Boat & Yachting.

On a similar note we were wondering whether we should try and stage another of MBY's reader sea trial events for potential buyers but this time with a range of different boats and hull forms including the Magellano 43 and a couple of British rivals such as a Broom, Princess 43, Aquastar or similar. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what we should have along and whether there are enough serious buyers interested in sea-trialling this size/style of boat?

The other possibility would be for smaller, sportier boats such as XO, Paragon, Draco etc. Again we'd need to be certain we attracted genuine potential customers. Your thoughts please?

Hugo

Hugo, you will probably be aware of various threads on here discussing the merits of D, SD and P hulls, and what works best, so it might be of interest to compare at least SD and P hulls of a similar size and boat type, in a variety of conditions, including pure D speeds? I think there are more of us with P hulls enjoying the relaxation that goes with D cruising, mixing it up with planing speeds.

 

[MapisM]

Yep, nice idea. I can't recall to have ever read anything like that.
Though I'm not sure of what you mean by "SD and P hulls of a similar size and boat type": P and SD (let alone D) hulls are bound to be used in different type of boats, aren't they?
Not that this matters a lot, and maybe it's just a semantic matter.

But one thing which imho would be critical for such comparison is using a P boat with some kind of stabilization system, which leads to a somewhat bigger than 40' or so hull size.
I mean, let's take for instance a Nordhavn 52, a Magellano 53 and a Princess 52.
It's pretty obvious that in the rough stuff, at D speed, the first is bound to perform better than the second, and the second better than the latter - the whole point of the comparison would be HOW MUCH better.
But if the P52 would have no stabs, the three words which pop to mind are steal, candy, baby.....

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

But one thing which imho would be critical for such comparison is using a P boat with some kind of stabilization system, which leads to a somewhat bigger than 40' or so hull size.
I mean, let's take for instance a Nordhavn 52, a Magellano 53 and a Princess 52.
It's pretty obvious that in the rough stuff, at D speed, the first is bound to perform better than the second, and the second better than the latter - the whole point of the comparison would be HOW MUCH better.
But if the P52 would have no stabs, the three words which pop to mind are steal, candy, baby.....

That would be an interesting test, I think this comparison can be interesting for owners who want something different to what they have.
Now as it stand the majority of buyers in that size in Europe have and look at planning boats.