Boat and Yacht Industry in Brazil
Beautiful beaches, a 3,400 km coastline, tropical weather, and a rising medium class are probably some of the factors that made Brazil the new market for boats and yachts. Foreign brands and manufacturers are already anchoring in the Brazilian coast, looking for prosperous business opportunities.
Foreign Investment and Market in Expansion
According to Eduardo Colunna, president of the Brazilian Association of Boat Manufacturers and its Implements (Acobar), many people in Brazil prefer rather to buy a boat than a second car. The country nowadays host 100 boat manufacturers and present a marketing increase of 10% per year.
The new boom in the Brazilian market appeared as a new possibility to European companies that are suffering from diminished sales after the economic crisis outbreak in their continent. Some major companies enjoyed the prospection of the market in Brazil, enlarging their investments in the country:
Brunswick Boat Group
The American Brunswick Boat Group is the major manufacturer of boat and yachts in the world, and, since 2012, has been actuating in Brazil. Due to the boat and yacht market in expansion in the country, the company has opened its first factory in Latin America in the Brazilian South.
Located in Joinville, Santa Catarina, the Brazilian Brunswick Boat Group unit was installed in the industrial park of Perini Business Park with investments of 22 million USD. The factory, nowadays, works with the production of two branches of yachts:
- Bayliner, with models of 23 and 25 feet,
- and Sea Ray, with boats of up to 41 feet.
The boat prices vary a lot depending on the model, but they range from 130,000 BRL to 2 million BRL.
Ferretti Group
The Ferretti Group is an Italian shipbuilding that has launched its first shipyard in Brazil in 2011. The place is located in Vargem Grande Paulista, in São Paulo, and is the only shipyard with permission to manufacture boats in Brazilian soil.
The unit had become the largest boat factory in Latin America, with 145,000 m² of land, 42,000 m² of covered area and the capacity to produce 120 boats per year. The models produced in the Vargem Grande Paulista shipyard are:
- 11 models of Ferretti Yachts: 500, 530, 550, 570, 620, 660, 700, 720, 750, 800, and 830
- 2 model from Pershing: 64 feet and 80 feet
- 1 model from Bertram: 360.
Azimut Benetti Group
The Azimut Benetti is the largest producer of mega yachts, and the first private group in the world in the luxury navigation. The Group which includes the prestigious brands Azimut Yachts, Benetti Yachts, Yachtique, Fraser Yachts, Lusben, Marina di Varazze and Royal Yacht Club Moscow offers boats between 34 feet to 70 feet.
A leader in production, this Italian brand is also working in Brazilian lands. The factory is located in Itajaí, Santa Catarina, and produces the boats listed below. The company had settled very well in the Brazilian market, with a billing of 100 million USD.
- Azimut 43 feet
- Azimut 60 feets
- Azimut 48 feets
- Azimut 70 feets.
Boat and Yacht Market
Having a boat or a yacht is still not a reality for medium class Brazilians, but that’s a future that is getting more and more possible in Brazil. The country has a boat for each 293 inhabitants, who may seem not so good, if the numbers were compared to France (1 boat for each 63 inhabitants) or to United States (1 boat for each 23 inhabitants). But, this Brazilian data actually show a good potential for the country.
Being United States and European Union targets of an enormous global crisis, Brazil with his vast territory, climate, a rising medium class and an ambitious upper class has qualified itself as very interesting market in investors eyes.The Brazilian market growth can be observed in the 16th edition of Rio Boat Show (2013).
Rio Boat Show
The event is organized every year in Rio de Janeiro, and works as exhibition of boats and yachts. The products are open to the public and possible buyers, showing new tendencies and new models of the year. Just in 2013 edition alone, more than 270 million BRL was earned within seven days of the event, with the participation of more than 43 thousand people.
The Brazilians' preference is the seven-meter speedboats, which represents 70% of the total amount of speedboats sold in Brazil. But, the luxury market is also in ascension, since the interest in larger speedboats and 40-foot yachts are increasing among the country’s population. The high in the sales of those products is a reflex of the good moment that Brazilian economy is in.