Bavaria returns to its roots aiming for a world-beating comeback

German Firm TO CONCENTRATE ON core 30-50FT YACHTS

Bavaria Yachts has announced its new focus and strategy, following rescue from bankruptcy by Berlin-based private equity company CMP Capital Management. The company says the aim is now to return to its former status as the world’s largest manufacturer or leisure craft by growing production capacity, and to focus firmly on boats of between 10-20m.

This includes a return “to the excellent priceperformance ratio for which Bavaria has stood for many years”, Kai Brandes, managing partner of the new owner CMP, explained at the company’s headquarters in Giebelstadt, Bavaria, in October.

Bavaria’s range will be streamlined and the E series discontinued, while production of the newest and largest of the range, the C65 has also ceased. This model was being built in Croatia. In future all boats will be built in Giebelstadt.

“Two or three smaller models” are expected in 2019 and a refresh of the range will continue into 2020 with the emphasis on boats of 30-50ft.

Besides this consolidation, there is to be an organisational shift to rely more on in-house expertise. New CEO, Ralph Kudla, said one of the main reasons for the company’s insolvency was “we developed boats that did not fit into the production and to the shipyard.”

“The external developer spoke Italian, the internal engineering spoke English and the employees spoke German on the assembly line,” he said. The newly introduced models caused problems in series production, distracting time and money from Bavaria’s core business.

The company will keep Nautitech, the French catamaran builder it bought in 2014, but will stick with Nautitech and abandon plans for Bavaria Catamarans. Kudla says Bavaria intends to build “400-500 boats in the next 12 months.”