Beneteau

Beneteau or Bénéteau is a French sail and motorboat manufacturer, with production facilities in France and in the United States. The company is a large and recognized boat builder, with its holding company (Groupe Beneteau) now also holding other prestigious brands, such as Jeanneau and its multihull subsidiary Lagoon in 1995.

History
Shipwright Benjamin Bénéteau founded the company in 1884, at Croix-de-Vie, France to build sailing trawlers. In the mid sixties, Benjamin's grandchildren Annette Bénéteau Roux and her brother André Bénéteau introduced a line of fiberglass boats.

Production
The main production facility is in France, with five factories in the Vendée area. However, they have one US plant in Marion, South Carolina, which produces boats for the American market and opened in 1986. Since then, the factory has nearly doubled in size to about 250000 sqft. By May 2017, the Marion plant had built more than 8,700 boats. The Marion plant was closed in September 2020 and production was moved to the existing facilities in France.

Beneteau sailing models
Below is a list of Beneteau yacht models.

Racer/cruiser - first series
These are racer/cruiser sailboats, with a higher emphasis on the racing aspects, yet are substantially equipped for comfortable cruising. They are equipped with tall fractional rigs, high performance keels and upgraded deck hardware. Introduced in 1976 with the First 30 model designed by Andre Mauric. The current First models being offered include:

Sense series
Introduced in 2010, the Sense range is a modern interpretation of a cruising yacht, incorporating several industry firsts, while the company continued to produce the more conventional Oceanis cruising range. It introduced innovations to the deck, superstructure, and interior design.
 * Sense 50 (First built in 2010)
 * Sense 43 (First built in 2011)
 * Sense 55 (First built in 2012)
 * Sense 46 (First built in 2013)
 * Sense 57 (First built in 2016)

Seascape
In 2018 Beneteau purchased Seascape and rebrand it products under the Beneteau First brand.

Swift Trawler series
These are trawler yacht powerboats. The Swift Trawler 42 was the company's first trawler yacht and the first Beneteau powerboat to reach the U.S. Market.

Outboard motorboats
These are outboard powered motorboats in three different models: Antares cabin cruisers, Barracuda seafishing boats and Flyer console boats.

Notable boats or models

 * Beneteau 31
 * Beneteau 361
 * Beneteau First 235
 * Beneteau First 285
 * Beneteau Oceanis 321
 * Mumm 36
 * Platu 25