Thinking about Azimut

No. In Europe an Azimut is the same price new for new to a Princess or Sunseeker. Ferretti is 10-20% more expensive.

All windows are certified, to structural standards. you have it also in the small printed bit. A window with not certification would not be accepted by CE ruling.
Anyways here we see builders of all names and types having problems with the windows. I do not like the concept how big they are going.
May be in USA you only see Azimut with them, or it is them who have it for the longest time.

I do not agree with this statement. Bayliner only competes for price. Azimut is a big competitor when it comes to design.

All the Italian builders "compete" on design, there usually is a low cost solution.

How does Azimut stack up today in price against their Italian brethren - are they the low cost provider of Italian designed yachts? If not, who is?

Too often “design” gets in the way resulting in functional issues starting with boarding. Like so many euro builders the boats are designed for stern boarding which doesn’t work too well here.

Either they don’t put side boarding gates or they are too small. Worst azimut usually have them swing outside, never mind that we have pilings here.

Or they taper the swim platform so getting in from a floating dock requires strong athletic abilities... sometimes these stylish bulges on the edge of the platform don’t even have non skid forcing owners to use stick on non ski tape...

And all that before you even get inside th boat

Liam

The window may have to be certified. But this one didn't meet the test of actual conditions. Another problem that's constantly is attended to that I've observed is the poor "tabbing" they do to hold their bulkheads in place. Very attractive boat if you like that style, but I've witnessed a multitude of structural repairs at their prep center that shouldn't have to be completed. Just my observations and conversations with the tech, I have no horse in the race....

There is no quick answer reply to this solution. Azimut have a strategy and a big RandD (many say the biggest in the industry) investment.
Italy has (had a lot before 2012/13) some boutique builders who build a couple or five boats a year.
Some of these have build not much in the last years and just concentrated on repairs.
Today in order to start again most of these will compete in price with Azimut, Sunseeker and all. But these builders have not changed the molds and the looks of there boats in the last 8 - 10 years.
They are more traditional.
For example Portofino Marine has a nice 58 Fly more traditional in looks and build. A really lovely boat but not for everyone, and as far as I know they only build two of this model.
So if you go to them they might give a competitive price today more then Azimut, who as I was told has nearly all 2019 production and over half of 2020 sold out.

So throw the boutique and low volume builders out of the discussion and focus on Production builders in Italy. Not the UK or French brands. Azimut has been seen as the low cost Production offering for Italian Motoryachts for years, hence the "Bayliner of Italy" term.

Looking at the UK brands , you could put Sealine in the same category as a Production builder into the same term "Bayliner of UK".

There is always a brand that regardless of style, designed features, layout ,etc., carves out a niche as the low cost solution. There are many ways to do it, be it through control of their Supply Chain, Materials, Performance Targets, Options, etc.

For example, in the past, some Production builders limited there performance targets to 30 mph at the design stage, today some limit them to 30 knots. They prefer to not set the "bar" too high. This allows smaller engines, less costly running gear, smaller fuel tanks, etc. and keeps the price to match their target, even though a direct competitor will target 35 or even 40 knots in the same class or size. The former becomes the low cost solution provider, the latter the premium solution provider, but it is all their choice.

A well run Bayliner enterprise is a money maker, is sustainable, and brings a lot of buyers into the Industry. But ultimately, they have to include areas of compromise, be it performance, range, layout, material, whatever. They can even overcome these perceived shortcomings by focusing on Styling. And they can create a level of Brand Loyalty, although there would be more expected Brand migration than the competition. But fortunate for everyone, those buyers they bring into our Industry will hopefully embrace the lifestyle and become long-lived boaters.

I heard a new one today.

A mate of mine has a 38' Cranchi but looking to go larger. He and his wife went to a used boat show and saw many boats in the 42'-48' range. Looking at all the Euro built boats from Princess, Fairline, Sunseeker, Ferretti and so on; she disliked one perfect boat.

Why? She hated how the word Azimut sounded???

I guess they're getting a Princess.

Is there an English translation for Azimut other than Mut?

I think the path away from any canine implications is with a bit of European flair - "ahzy-moot"!

The problem is and always had been and always will be with azimut, is that they subcontract all of the interior joiner work and all of the electrical to subcontractors. So around seven different electric sub contracting companies are doing the electrical work. They don’t even use the same parts on the same model, don’t follow the plans, and there’s no standard to how they’re doing it all.

In Europe and also in USA, there is a lot much worse and cheaper boats to Azimut, to what regards build quality.

I think with Azimut and also the other big brands, it is all about dealer network and how they service the client.
Not every dealer is the same, even if under the same MarineMax (example) brand.

Sealine which was part of Brunswick Group for a few years, sold as a profitable business to them and then declared bankrupt after seven years, is today German made and part of the Hanse Group.

Azimut sell a lot because they are always ahead of the design curve, and present that apparent quality on the boats but also in the dealer, the boat shows, and the yard.
Some people are very happy with them I know owners who had five them in a period of ten t0 twenty years, and they always say nice things about them.

I had a client who had a 55 which he hit a reef with and then bought a Sunseeker Manhattan 60, and coming from his words not myn he always felt the Azimut was a better boat.
He had the Azimut 55 and the Sseeker was a demo but had various problems with leaking windows.

It would be nice to have a production builder of big magnitude which reaches for example the Viking standard, which I think is top in the industry.
But the scale of Viking is mostly limited to the USA and most of it in the East Coast, so to be fair it is much easier. I think it is much harder to have the same scale of standards World wide.
Ferretti Group had good standards up until 2005. But then too many finance and brands make everything very costly and a nightmare to control, and they did lose some of it.
They are still ahead of many others in my opinion.

Every boat gives problems, it is all about how the builder rectifies them which wins the client or loses him. If you do not want boat problems do not buy a boat.

I see loads of these big windows being changed in yards from all names, the French builders seem to have the worst of the lot. So it is not something new.
For me it is an additional problem and yards are overdoing it with them, and the bad news is that is it not stopping.

Unfortunately, Liam, you must judge Azimut in the US by Marine Max and while some of their dealerships are better than others, Marine Max handles the warranty program and that further limits the dealers. Turning the management of your warranty program over to another party, in this case the retailer, is a serious mistake. It can be rolled into the pricing and save you money but it removes all checks and balances on quality assurance. Nothing inherently wrong with the boat, but lots of issues on wiring and plumbing and other set up and those coupled with weakness in the service and warranty network in the US. In Europe, a very different picture. Azimut's arrangement with Marine Max guaranteed good sales in the US and simultaneously some service shortcomings.

This seems like a business opportunity

I am looking at a Azimut 54 2014. Any thoughts? There was a video produced by a frustrated Azimut owner about 4 years ago. The video is no longer on YouTube. Has anyone downloaded it? If so can someone send it to me?

Oh John, The can of worms that you have opened!! good luck in your boat search

John
If you were to do searches on YF for Muts, lots of your worst dreams will be re-ignited.
Other than this thread, there are a few more in here,,, somewhere..
I'm sorry your looking at a used Mut. Good luck.

I was told by someone that the video was a hoax made by a competitor. Hence they had to remove it.

If you want to know about Azimut and other brands you know what's the best thing to do. Forget this or any other forum (everybody is a keyboard warrior nowadays), go down to a marina and speak to some owners and captains of the boats. If you are interested in the 54 I would speak to Azimut owners from the 50 to 60 feet spectrum, and a 53 or 54 is better. 53 is the same boat more or less, before the evolved to the 54.

Ask questions how long did they have it, what they do with it, and how is your impression about the product.

I have worked on and have run plenty of Azimuts and know plenty of others that do also. Given my experience with them, I can absolutely, without a doubt, believe that video in entirety.

I have dealt with 2 47s and a 48 and I have not seen any of those issues. Also the worst stuff in the videos was regarding the engines and generator service, if I remember correct the engines where Cummins 550hp. That boat was a 47, one of the last build and then the model became a 48, the same but hi/lo bathing platform.