History
Bavaria Yachts was founded in 1978 by Winfried Hermann, owner of the plastic window factory. As a yachtsman he decided to refit the shipyard and start producing sailing cruise yachts at low prices. He liked the idea of making yachts more affordable. The factory started with the production of 7 and 8 meter boats, and it was the first company in Germany to put the production of yachts on stream.
In 2001 Bavaria Yachts started producing motor yachts and they also quickly gained popularity, which grew thanks to their advantageous price/quality ratio. All this made Bavaria Yachts a popular brand.
The downside of a budget price tag and a short production cycle is simple design, inexpensive materials, mass-produced assembly quality and relatively modest running characteristics.
Model range
The company produces a large range of fiberglass cruising sailing yachts from 30 to 65 feet, all with a traditional aft cockpit layout. The motor yacht range includes several families of yachts from 33 to 55 feet in length. These are high-speed gliding cruisers in fibreglass composite with and without flybridge, as well as outdoor high-speed yachts of relatively low price category.
In 2014, Bavaria acquired the company Nautitech, a manufacturer of catamarans from 40 to 54 feet.
Production
Today the main production facilities of Bavaria Yachts are located in Gibelstadt, which employs 600 people. Another 250 people work in the shipyard near La Rochelle, where Nautitech catamarans are being built. Every year the company produces over 2000,000 sailing and motor yachts.
Incidents
The reputation of Bavaria yachts was severely damaged after Bavaria Match 42 lost its keel in 2005 in one of the regattas and a man died, then the situation was repeated in 2013 when Bavaria 39 also lost its keel on the move. In recent years this has also happened to yachts from other manufacturers, which has shown that this is not only and not so much a constructive problem.
Financial and organizational perturbations
In 2007 the yard was acquired by the investment firm Bain Capital for €1.1 billion. Then in 2009 the yard was taken over by two American hedge funds, Oaktree and Anchorage Capital. In April 2018, the company announced that it would be taken over by an interim administration.
