{"id":1161,"date":"2025-01-28T15:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lliquida.com\/report-dal-boot-dusseldorf-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T15:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:20:14","slug":"bring-hearses-back-boating-dusseldorf-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lliquida.com\/en\/bring-hearses-back-boating-dusseldorf-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Bring the Hearses Back and Ask for Your Money Back from the Mourners: Boating is Not Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a four-day visit to the 2025 D\u00fcsseldorf Boot, here\u2019s what I\u2019m taking home to share with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me preface this: covering the entire show and talking to everyone in just four days is impossible, so take this as a slow flyover of the 17 halls of the world\u2019s largest indoor boating exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there were absentees. Talking about those playing \u201cat home,\u201d the Hanse Group (except for two Fjord models\u2014one outside and one in Hall 5) and Bavaria didn\u2019t exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other brands familiar to us were missing, and there were some gaps among exhibitors here and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, it\u2019s understandable: in a year when sales are slowing and the costs of acquiring space and transporting boats are soaring, some have wisely decided to take a break and wait for more dynamic times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there was no shortage of people, contacts, new dealers acquired, and overall movement\u2014in fact, not just movement but a substantial one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a bloom of new brands\u2014or at least ones I hadn\u2019t seen before: VTS (Polish), Santasevera (Italian), Aiata (Turkish), Kumbra (Spanish), Level Yachts (also Spanish), Zyara (Greek), and Eclipse Yachts (Dutch). What struck me slightly less positively was the repetitive trend: walkarounds around 43 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some stayed just below that size, like Kumbra with their 34-footer, Aiata with a 38 (and they had three on display), or others went slightly above, like the Mylius 47, which, to be precise, is more of an open with a hardtop since the bow is decked. But much of the creativity seemed to have burst at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Are we sure the market only wants this type of boat and from brand-new players? In many cases, beyond the brand and big names, like Level Yachts who called in Tony Castro for design, it\u2019s hard to see the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIM\u2019s work with Design Work, the studio behind the aesthetics of BMW, Mini, and Rolls Royce, was interesting. Their Contessa 640 flagship, still visible only on displays or VR headsets, seems to make a decent leap forward in the otherwise static world of yachting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, Italian “small boating” manages to stand out thanks to regional collectives like the Calabrian and Sicilian ones. In the latter, I was particularly struck by the young team from Cantieri Stradivarius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the aesthetics, which are subjective, they offered a reinterpretation of space usage, surface management, and functions with what they call shy technology\u2014hidden technology that only appears when you need it\u2014or solutions that allow the boat to recognize you as you approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another highlight was the return of wood: on display were Comitti, Boesch, and Debel Yachts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit off the beaten path, tucked away in Hall 13 (one of the two dedicated to charters), was the Beneteau Island Concept. Judging by the reactions to the video I posted\u2014plenty of pros and cons\u2014it sparked significant debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept was already unveiled in Cannes last September, but here I saw it live. The boat is based on usage data from 1,000 vessels over four years, boiled down to these findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n