Talking about record breaking is no longer a gamble because being the first super yacht manufacturer in the world for the twenty-fourth consecutive year is nothing accidental. Rather, it is the affirmation of a family business model - deeply rooted in our country - which has been able to respond to the new dynamics of world markets. Azimut/Benetti is the story of a father - Paolo, the founder - and a daughter - Giovanna, who has recently become president - who have been able to intercept trends and innovate production processes over time. The result: this year too the group confirms itself as the world's leading manufacturer of yachts over 24 metres, remaining firmly at the top of the reference ranking for the sector, the Global Order Book edited since 1992 by the English magazine Boat International - a sort of Bible in the nautical world - which annually collects and analyzes data from 189 active shipyards on 5 continents. The 2024 edition rewards Azimut/Benetti both for the number of projects under construction and for overall length: 168 bar-che, equivalent to a total of 6,013 metres.
Numbers that tell of a successful path, sanctioned by a production value that has gone from 700 million to 1.2 billion euros in 5 years - and an order book that extends to 2027. The group today brings together 4 brands - Azimut, Benetti, Lusben and Yachtique — for a total of 526 thousand square meters of factories, part of which is dedicated to the refit repair activity of boats up to 120 metres, a Style and Design Hub with over 50 architects and designers, a team for full projects -custom, 138 showrooms in 80 countries, a network of over 80 dealers.
The shareholding structure sees the majority in the hands of the Vitelli family, which leads the group together with the managers with a 59% share, followed by the Riyadh sovereign fund with 33%.
Features
The complexity of the nautical production chain, of superyachts in particular, projects groups like this well beyond the boundaries of the sector, thanks also to the extraordinary rate of operation on markets all over the world. «Difficult markets – states Giovanna Vitelli – on which over time the manufacturing industry, including the luxury one like us, has had to adapt products and services. These two fundamental elements are now to be read as a sort of customer experience, something that goes beyond the product. It is no longer enough to make an excellent product, but it must be placed in a context of brand equity. We no longer focus only on sales but we follow the customer at 360 degrees. One of the services we are focusing on the most is refit. We have an investment of 15 million euros underway to expand our firepower in Livorno and become one of the three players in the Mediterranean able to operate in the refit of boats over 100 metres".
