It’s not difficult to see some of the synergies between a yacht designed for the Middle Eastern market and those for heat of Asia or the harshness of the Australian sun, but clearly diversifying your brand to appeal to a global audience can bring with it problems of style, design or typical usage. Here, too, Gulf Craft is taking a measured but progressive approach.
“We work very closely with our partners on the ground and we get their feedback,” Schabilon says. “They’re part of a product development committee. So we’re always looking at trends and seeing what’s new and what each market needs. And we do our best because we build so many boats – we have a huge product range from 31 feet to 175 feet, which nobody else does – it’s unheard of.
“Because we do so much, for our strategic markets, we are building something specifically for them. And obviously, depending on the market, people have a lot of special requests and a lot of cultural requirements, but because we do such a high level of customisation, we’re able to accommodate that.”
So what next for Gulf Craft? “We’re focusing on modernising our designs and you can see that in our latest Majesty models, the 120 and the 140,” Schabilon offers. “We sold hull number 17 of the Majesty 100 at Cannes, and we’re also targeting different markets. We’re looking very closely at North America – we went into the Fort Lauderdale at the end of 2019 and the Majesty 140 won Best In Show, although we did have a bit of a stumbling block with COVID.
“But since the beginning of the year we’ve sold another Majesty 140 into the US which is due to be delivered any day now, and we’re also working on Oryx, our small sport cruiser, which has huge potential there. Florida, South America, we’re even talking to people in Canada and California, so we really see that we have a lot more expansion opportunities over the next three to five years.”
And that’s not all. “We do have a few new projects up our sleeves,” Schabilon teases. “We’re really trying even further to expand our product range and fill in all the gaps – so we will be announcing some exciting new models in the next few months, in the lead-up to the Dusseldorf show in January 2022 …”
Watch this space.
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