Buoyancy at Bavaria Yachts

Buoyancy at Bavaria Yachts

In amongst the well documented rough economic waters, Bavaria Yachts Australia has buoyant expectations.  With a successful Mandurah Boat Show behind them (one Bavaria 40 sold at the show), a well supported factory with no stock anchoring them down and an outstanding national network of agents, this is the time to buy into stability and a well supported brand with a solid future.

With worldwide market rationalisation happening on a daily basis, the same is very likely in the yacht manufacturing sector.  The big manufacturers are set to continue to dominate the market while companies burdened with stock and fragmented dealerships are likely to close-up or be absorbed.

Bavaria Yachts was bought out by private capital investment firm Bain Capital approximately 18 months ago.  Bain Capital is currently in the process of negotiating the purchase of aspects of Lehman Brothers bank for several billion dollars.  Also currently investing €10m in new production facilities at their factory in Germany, Bavaria Yachts is positioning itself for the inevitable upturn.  The investment is also into new product design and Bavaria recently announced four new models – Bavaria 35, 43, 47 and 51 Cruisers – featuring new innovations and a complete interior redesign.

Bavaria Yachts Australia anticipated some of the recent currency fluctuations and is able to offer boats on an exchange rate of 56 cents generating discounts of $14-$36,000.  Owner Bob Mulkearns said:

“We’re lucky that we supply yachts from a company that doesn’t believe in stock.  Any manufacturer with large amounts of stock will be in trouble and that needs to be looked at carefully.  The risk to the Australian market in the long-term is if these manufacturers try to use weak, short-term tactics to keep their doors open and unload cheap, unsupported boats into Australia which will only destabilise the whole industry.

The key to buying now is to look at the benefits.  Ask the questions of whether you will be supported beyond the sale?  Will you be supported nationally?  Will the brand still exist in the near future?  Will you be part of a community of owners?  Stability is vital and we pride ourselves on welcoming new owners to our family as one of our primary philosophies.

We have a very strong product, we’re offering competitive quotes and real benefits such as three years warranty and as Australia is looking very stable, we think the market will respond comfortably.”

Bavaria Yachts continues to maintain strong links with their community of owners.  With a regatta organised for Friday 24th, featuring over $8,000 worth of prizes, a recent cruise in company and regular newsletters and open days, they work hard to provide additional value to their owners and believe this vital to the ongoing success.

Bob Mulkearns is looking forward to a positive 2009 with more boat shows and new promotional events.  

“We pride ourselves on the number of repeat buyers we have, the events we organise for our owners, the loyalty and reputation we engender and the quality we deliver nationwide.  We have a fantastic range of boats available, the lead times are short, just don’t ask for stock!”

With record brokerage enquiries and many quality listings, Bavaria Yachts is also seeing a lot of sales activity in the used sector.