Azimut Yachts, Italy's Volume Leader in Motor Yachts

From a student charter business to a 1.2 billion euro group

Paolo Vitelli founded Azimut in Turin in 1969 while still a student, initially chartering sailboats rather than building them. The company moved into distribution and then into building its own motor yachts, and in 1985 it bought Benetti, the Viareggio yard that had been building yachts since 1873. That purchase created Azimut Benetti, today a privately held group with revenue of about 1.2 billion euros in 2022 and shipyards in Avigliana, Savona, Viareggio, Livorno, Fano and Itajaí in Brazil.

Vitelli's daughter Giovanna has led the business since 2023, and Paolo Vitelli died on December 31, 2024. The group remains family controlled, which is unusual among the largest European builders and helps explain its willingness to keep investing in new ranges through market cycles.

How the Azimut ranges fit together

Azimut sells motor yachts from about 9 to 40 meters under its own name, with Benetti handling the larger custom and semi-custom work. Understanding the families saves time when shopping. The Flybridge line is the backbone, represented on our site by the Azimut 68, a name that has been used more than once: the 2021 flybridge praised for its layout follows the 68S hardtop sport yacht sold from 2004 to 2010. The Grande line, such as the Azimut Grande 27 Metri, brings near-superyacht volume to the 80 to 100 foot class.

The S series is where Azimut's triple-pod idea took hold. The Azimut 55S of around 2012 combined a carbon fiber superstructure with three small Volvo Penta IPS600 pods, and the compact drives freed enough hull length for a full-beam master in a boat under 57 feet. It ran at about 28 knots in cruise and topped 34 in Power & Motoryacht's test. The S6 later carried the concept onto a slightly stretched version of that hull, and the larger Azimut S7, first shown in 2017 and redesigned in 2023, scaled it up with triple IPS1050 pods and four cabins.

Magellano boats are displacement-style long-range cruisers, Verve covers outboard-powered day boats, and Seadeck introduced hybrid-ready, lower-emission designs.

• Flybridge, family cruising yachts such as the Azimut 68
• S, sport yachts with carbon superstructures and triple IPS, from the 55S to the S7
• Grande, raised pilothouse yachts from the 88-foot Grande 27 Metri upward
• Magellano and Seadeck, range and efficiency focused

MarineMax, service and how Azimuts depreciate

In the US, Azimut is sold primarily through MarineMax, which gives owners access to a national chain of service yards and a large pool of trade-ins. That relationship is a real advantage when something breaks on a Saturday in Fort Lauderdale or Newport. It also means plenty of inventory on the used market, which keeps prices competitive for buyers.

Azimuts tend to depreciate faster in the first five years than comparable Sunseekers or Princesses, then flatten out. That makes three to six year old boats the sweet spot. Expect a well-kept Azimut 68 to list anywhere from the mid six figures for the 2000s 68S to about $4 million for a recent flybridge, while an Azimut 55S now asks roughly $480,000 to $760,000, a lot of boat for the money if the three pods have been serviced on schedule.

• Volvo Penta IPS records, including pod oil and bellows service
• Gyro stabilizer service history and hours
• Carbon superstructure joints and window bonding on S models
• European 230-volt systems and their US shore power adaptation
• Teak decks, hydraulic swim platform and tender garage door