Smith Falls, June10.. A new agreement between Le Boat and Groupe Beneteau under their Delphia brand in Poland will see Europe's largest boat rental company invest over £100m into its international fleet over the next ten years.

The deal will ensure travelers have an even greater range of options to choose from when planning their private boat rental vacation and provides innovation to the current charter market as it stands. Of the 400 new Delphia boats slated to be built over the coming decade for Le Boat, 100 will be made in the next three years, including at least 25 in 2025. These orders will be a combination of the current Horizon range, plus 34 of a premium new one to two cabin boat, aptly named “Liberty” which will be launched in 2025.

In addition, the two industry leaders will also be developing a new industry-leading three to four cabin model for launch in 2027. This new model will be designed in collaboration with Le Boat and will have both private and charter variants; the charter version will be exclusive to Le Boat. They will include full air conditioning, a superior fly bridge and provide the most premium boating experience on the waterways.

To cater for the growing popularity of Le Boat's ownership program, the agreement will also enable customers to invest in the new top-of-the-range boats. The popular program allows owners to enjoy guaranteed income whilst taking on average fourteen weeks' holiday every year on their own boat, or a sister boat across Le Boat's 17 cruising regions in Europe and Canada. Since 2016, Le Boat has seen a 3 fold increase in their boat ownership program in Europe since their Horizon fleet was launched. The Le Boat Ownership Program was also recently rolled out to the North American Market.

As part of this supply agreement, Delphia and LeBoat are also working to expand into the North American market using an innovative partnership that will allow for the development of new fleets and new locations for both charter holidays and boat sales.

Speaking about the development, Cheryl Brown, Le Boat's Managing Director, said: “We're delighted to be building upon our long-standing relationship with Groupe Beneteau to support the next stage of Le Boat's growth journey. It will allow us to continue developing high quality river cruisers which our customer will love, and enable us both to expand into North America. With these innovative new boats and stunning potential cruising grounds, this offers us a fantastic opportunity to grow both the charter and boat sales sides of our business.”

For the Groupe Beneteau, this collaboration with Europe's leading boat rental company is a further step in its strategy to move upmarket and innovate for sustainable and accessible boating. By improving the customer experience in the yacht charter sector, the Group is responding both to new sailing expectations and to the growing demand of the sharing economy.

Erik Stromberg, Vice-President of power and motoryachts for Groupe Beneteau added, “LeBoat has been a key partner for many years with the premier fleet of Horizon models. This next step continues the supply of Horizon models, as well as, a new co-developed boat to support Le Boat's charter business and boat ownership program.”

The new Liberty boat range goes on sale from 06 June 2024, and will be available to cruise from selected Le Boat bases in France, Germany, England and The Netherlands in the 2025 season. No experience required. For more information USA :  https://leboat.com or Canada https://leboat.ca

call 1-800-734-5491.

https://youtu.be/bYy4zcYwOvc See more here

Artist rendition of new Le Boat luxury Liberty Cruiser

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Media Contacts:

For Le Boat

Arnelle Kendall: arnelle@arnellekendallinternational.com Tel: 561 7898286

Lis.McLean@leboat.com Tel :Lisa.Mclean@leboat.com Call:613 207-3988

For Groupe Beneteau

Barbara Bidan

Corporate Communication Director

b.bidan@beneteau-group.com

About Le Boat:

Le Boat is the No.1 provider of inland water boating vacatios in the UK, Europe, and Canada, bringing together more than 50 years of experience, expertise, and memories. The operator has a fleet of large cruisers available for rent, allowing entire families, and groups of friends, to stay on board and explore their chosen region. 

About Group Beneteau

Founded 140 years in Vendee by Benjamin Beneteau, Groupe Beneteau is nowadays bolstered by an international presence of 23 production sites and a global sales network.

Groupe Beneteau posted €1.785 billion turnover in 2023 and has a workforce of nearly eight thousand employees, mainly in France, United States, Poland, Italy and Portugal.

A world leader, Groupe Beneteau's nine brands in its Boat Division offer more than 150 models of pleasure craft to meet the diverse needs and sailing projects of its customers, whether sailing or motoring, monohull or catamaran.

Through its Boating Solutions Division, the Group is also involved in services covering daily or weekly boat hire, marinas, the digital sector and financing.

Its Habitat Division is a major European player in outdoor accommodation. Its three brands offer a wide range of mobile homes. It has nine hundred employees split between six production sites in France and one in Italy. It posted a turnover of €319.6 million in 2023.