LEADERS OF THE INDUSTRY
Innovators improving the boating experience
PMY: Look into your crystal ball—what trends do you see influencing your future models/product(s)?
FEDERICO FERRANTE: Azimut|Benetti Group has been “the” industry innovator for over 5 decades now. We historically have been able to foresee trends and influence the industry with our models and products. Think about structural panoramic windows, maneuvering joysticks, gyroscopic stabilization just to name a few of the innovations introduced by the Azimut|Benetti Group, which then came to be adopted by the whole industry. Sustainability is one of the most used and often abused words of recent times. Claims of sustainability should be assessed carefully and deeply, through skeptical scrutiny. The application of serious, real, measurable, transparent, certified and industry leading concrete steps towards a legit sustainable evolution will influence our future models and products. Azimut and Benetti’s products which will continue to lead the marine industry to a better future for all of us.
PMY: How have your customer demands shifted in recent years?
FEDERICO FERRANTE: The last decade, and more so the last 5 years have been extremely exciting for the industry as a whole and for Azimut|Benetti Group as one of the oldest Yachts Builders in the world even more. We have experienced the highest affluence of new Customers ever measured. We could not have been more rewarded than by seeing our intuition for precise strategies and investments to have been proven effective. It goes without saying that our Customers look for the most innovative yachts on the market. They are extremely sensitive to beauty, both in the interior as well as in the exterior lines of the yachts they want. They are equally savvy when looking for technology and technical innovation, for which our Group is Leader. But... the demand shift has been towards “extra” product fields. First and foremost, service. Secondly, but surely not less important: Owners Community and Experiences. Both fields entail extremely significant investments with no easily measurable returns in the short run. For today’s Clients our Service and Owners Experiences are absolutely fundamental add-ons to the products we build.
PMY: Where do you look for design and business inspiration?
FEDERICO FERRANTE: This is a great question. First and foremost, IN ITALY!!!
We are so proud of our heritage and we are equally thankful it is recognized and appreciated worldwide by each and every one of our Clients. We are literally and unapologetically obsessed with Design, having the inspiration all around us in what we consider one of the lands most rich in design and raw beauty. Azimut|Benetti Group, in this case more specifically through our Azimut Brand, has drastically revolutionized the industry by introducing incredible high talents from other fields, that being residential, aerospace, automotive into Yachts. Yachts that became iconic, unique and distinguishable. We invest countless hours on each and every one of our projects to merge innovative and phenomenal design solutions with the technical needs and challenges the production of a modern top quality yacht entails. Only through an extremely attentive and organized use of each and every one of our 54 years of experience can it become possible. As far as business, we distribute our products through the best industry professionals all over the world who sells them to naturally the best business women and men in the world. We are inspired by our business visions just as much as by the ideas and conversations with our Clients Worldwide, generating a true Global Business approach.