Beneteau 40 Gran Turismo, From the Nuvolari Lenard Original to the 2025 Redesign

Which Beneteau 40 Gran Turismo do you mean?

Anyone shopping for a Beneteau 40 Gran Turismo in 2026 meets two unrelated boats. The first, launched in the South of France in 2015 and sold until 2021, is a 41 ft 7 in hardtop express with Nuvolari Lenard styling, an Air Step 2 hull and twin Volvo Penta diesel sterndrives. It is the boat behind nearly every used listing, including the 2016 models that buyers still search for by year.

The second arrived at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September 2025 as part of an entirely new Gran Turismo range that Beneteau started from scratch. It shares nothing but the name: a Michael Peters hull, Andreani styling, outboard or Yanmar inboard power and Coupe and Open versions. This guide covers the original in depth and the new boat in its own section, and never mixes their numbers.

How the first GT40 rethought the 40 ft express

The original GT40 replaced the Gran Turismo 38, a boat derived from the 2006 Monte Carlo 37 that MBY says sold 245 units in four years. Beneteau brought in Carlo Nuvolari and Dan Lenard, designers of the Beneteau group's larger Monte Carlo Yachts, for the styling, and Power and Motoryacht reported that it was the first Gran Turismo built from the hull up with the US market in mind, with a bigger cockpit, more cupholders and an all-glass helm.

The layout broke with the usual formula. The wheel sits two steps up on the centerline with a double seat and a third seat to starboard, and the cabin entrance moves to port. Yachting's tester found the rearranged cockpit felt like a floating living room, with a settee that sweeps around to a chaise, a folding table and seating for up to eleven people by Beneteau's count. A solid sliding section in the hardtop and electric side glazing open the deck to the air.

Air Step 2 and a fully cored hull

PMY explained the hull change in detail. Earlier Air Step boats fed the steps through tubes from intakes a few feet above the waterline; on the GT40 Beneteau moved cup-shaped intakes down to the chine, which it says sends 30 percent more air to the step. Beneteau credits the second-generation system with an extra 1.5 knots of top speed. Yachting described a pair of notches in the chines forward of amidships feeding a pair of steps.

The hull is balsa cored throughout, including below the waterline, an approach PMY noted is not fashionable but saves weight. Joinery is Alpi-cored with walnut, oak or mahogany veneer. MBY put the weight at about 7 to 7.5 tonnes against roughly 10 tonnes for many 40 ft rivals, which explains why modest engines work. For a used buyer, the full balsa core makes a moisture survey of the bottom and transom essential.

D4 or D6, and what the tests showed

Standard power was twin Volvo Penta D4-300 diesels on sterndrives, which MBY found ran out at about 32 knots while planing exceptionally easily. The larger six-cylinder D6 option, a $15,000 upgrade according to Yachting, lifts the top end into the high 30s. Yachting's D6 boat reached 38.5 knots and burned 28.8 gallons per hour at 33 knots and about 25 gph at 30 knots, a range of more than 200 nautical miles at 30 knots. PMY's early D6-330 test boat hit 38.4 knots, got on plane in six seconds, reached 20 knots in eight and 35 knots in 19, and turned a full circle in under a boat length at 31 knots.

PMY recorded a much higher 50 gph at 30.8 knots and 3,000 rpm, so fuel figures differ between tests. A realistic expectation for a D6 boat is a cruise around 30 knots on 25 to 30 gph. A joystick linked to the sterndrives and a bow thruster was optional; MBY's review noted occasional rattles from the solid roof section in a long swell, but no creaks from the hull.

• D4-300: about 32 to 33 knots top, the economical choice
• D6: about 38.5 knots top, cruise near 30 knots
• Joystick with bow thruster: optional, worth finding on a used boat

Below decks on the 2015 to 2021 boat

The owner's cabin is forward with a double and large hull windows, and PMY found plentiful headroom for a 6 ft tester. Because the companionway is offset to port, the dinette loses one leg and does not convert to a berth, and MBY judged the galley small, with a two-burner cooktop, microwave, sink and fridge. The payoff is a generous head with a separate shower stall.

The guest cabin amidships is reached through a central door beneath the helm. Its two singles run fore and aft and can be filled in to a double, and the walkway between them sits in the deepest part of the hull. PMY called it a little cramped for lounging but fine for sleeping.

Buying a used first-generation GT40

Values are healthy. Yachting reported 17 boats for sale in February 2025 at $259,000 to $498,000, and European listings run from about 230,000 euros for a 2017 boat to 329,000 euros for a 2019 one. A 2016 GT40 typically sits at the lower end of the US range, around $235,000 to $320,000, with engines, hours and options mattering more than year. PMY's options list from 2016 is a useful checklist: electric swim platform ($11,920), cable reel shore power ($6,240), teak cockpit sole ($9,110) and cockpit air conditioning ($7,920).

Budget roughly $24,000 to $45,000 a year to run one in the US excluding depreciation. The Volvo sterndrives need regular bellows, U-joint and seal service, and the motorized submersible platform, which Beneteau designed to carry a tender, should be cycled under load during survey.

The all-new GT40 Coupe and Open

The second-generation GT40 premiered at Cannes in September 2025 alongside a new GT35, with a GT50 following in January 2026. MBY described a clean-sheet range aimed at villa living on the water: reverse-angled bow, topsides without hull windows, fold-down quarter platforms, walkaround decks to a secure bow lounge and proper outdoor galleys with face-to-face dining. Below, the GT40 has a permanent double berth in the bow that can be closed off with a bulkhead, a convertible midship area and a full-size head and shower.

Beneteau lists the Coupe at 41 ft 1 in, 3.68 m beam and 8,600 kg dry, with twin Mercury Verado 400 outboards or twin Yanmar 320 hp inboards, and two 115 gallon tanks on inboard boats or two 159 gallon tanks with outboards. The T-top Open version weighs 9,041 kg. Prices start at $650,000 for the Coupe and $615,000 for the Open, excluding taxes, and Alpine editions add Signal Grey paint and navy accents. With no published independent tests yet, judge it on a sea trial.