The market for motor boats and sailing yachts in Europe is overall continuing to trace an upward curve. But boat sales of small boats are down and the projection for 2008 is flat, or down slightly from 2007.
Motor boats continue to be more popular than sailing yachts. Approximately 72 percent of boat and yacht sales are attributable to the motor boat segment.
Demand for superyachts is increasing, particularly in Italy, Greece and France. Almost 40 percent of the superyachts manufactured around the world are produced in Italy and the Italian market - always heavily influenced by the super and luxury yacht sector - is Europe's largest in value terms. As demand for larger craft continues to grow, prices for this class of boat are also increasing more rapidly.
Europe's boat-building industry is undergoing a transformation from manual production to industrial manufacturing, and this is also being expressed in increasing market concentration. The top three companies in Europe (the majority Italy-based) account for more than 10 percent of total market sales and the top 10 generate more than one quarter of Europe's total market volume.
Some companies are implementing multi-brand strategies, imitating the business model of, for example, the LVMH Group. Owing to the high labour and wage costs as well as high technological capabilities that characterise Europe's production landscape, companies in the boat-building sector (such as Azimut-Benetti and Ferretti) are increasingly orienting themselves towards technology-based mass production methods. The Italian government is planning to extend the capacity of existing mooring facilities further in the next few years, particularly in the south of the country.
