Boating needs to become easier to understand and more affordable to attract a new generation of customers, says Yann Masselot, chief sales officer at Groupe Beneteau. With buyers holding the advantage in a difficult market, the company is looking to lower price points, bring new models to market and make getting out on the water less complicated.
Thus he says, the time of the captain being the only expert on a boat, performing tasks that no one else understands, is gone: “If we stay in this world, we will no longer sell boats.
“We have to make sure that yachting or boating is not seen by the public as something complicated. If we do this and bring solutions and products, people will say: ‘Ah, I can do this, why not me?’
“That’s the target.”
His comments come as the company readies to take 51 boats to next year’s boot Düsseldorf.
Masselot’s personal favourite is the Beneteau First 36 Spirit.
“I’m a sailor, since I was a kid,” he says. “It’s a fun boat; you can go planing on the water extremely easily.
“And we managed to bring the price down, at an amazing price for this boat. It’s exactly the type of solution that we want to bring to the market.
“Accessibility, affordability, and a fun boat to sail.”
A buyer’s market demands the right offer
Right now, it’s a buyer’s market.
“Whatever we say, the market is still difficult. It’s what we call a buyer’s market. So we have to come to large boat shows like boot with the right offer on the table.”
To do this, he says Groupe Beneteau is launching some products at lower price points and finding ways of making smaller boats cheaper to attract younger people into ‘new boat’ boating.
Currently, Masselot’s rather taken with how day boating is doing: extremely well. This segment dropped significantly for the company in 2023, he says, but it’s recovering now.
New Beneteau models drive sales
The company’s seen success with its recent strategies. In 2025 it introduced a wide swathe of new models to the market and presented 24 new models for the 2026–2027 season at the Cannes Yachting Festival (under the programme of 66 model launches planned between 2025 and 2027).
Sales have been pretty good, he says. “In the first semester of 2026, 30 per cent of our sales came from the new models.
“It’s the only way to go. The market now is like that. If you don’t bring new models, then your life is becoming far more difficult.”
He says people like to buy the latest boat.
“There’s always innovation and new stuff on the latest one, whether it’s about ergonomics, whether it’s about propulsion or whatever, they will see this as a key feature and choose the latest one.”
Environmental benefits need to reach the customer
But protecting the environment isn’t high on the desired-feature list. Groupe Beneteau is pushing its eco-friendly practices, but as far as its customers? “They’re happy to know it, but they don’t really care.”
However, Masselot notes: “When you tell them that what you’re doing has also an impact on the way they use the boat, that they can save fuel, they can save CO2 emissions, etc., it becomes interesting for them.
Earlier this year, Groupe Beneteau and Fountaine Pajot Group formed E-lektra Marine, a 50/50 joint venture focused on electric propulsion and onboard energy management for sailing yachts.
He says customers are actively seeking hybrid propulsion systems. “We have more and more customers asking for it, which is a good sign. Some of them are ready to pay more for it. Some of them are saying: ‘I want it, but I don’t want to pay much more’.
“Today, with the technology, it does cost more. But as we build more and more, that will bring the prices down. So that’s why we have also to push it.”
For Masselot, the challenge is to keep boating desirable while making it easier for people to take the first step. That means offering boats buyers can afford, developing products that make them want to upgrade, and showing that new technology can improve their time on the water. In a market where customers have the upper hand, every new model has to offer the right reasons to buy.
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