About Jeanneau shipyard
In 1957 Henri Jeanneau, who had a passion for cars and planes, discovered a new one – for motor boats. He built one of his own, a wooden 6 m boat, to take part in a 6-hour race in Paris. The victory encouraged him to start his own business. In 1958 the shipyard started building their first boats, though not of wood, but of fiberglass, which was cutting-edge at that time. At first it was piece production with a lot of manual labour, but early in 1960s there appeared first serial powerboats, as well as small sailing boats. By the 1970s yachting sport got a lot more “democratized”, and Jeanneau became a leader in producing affordable sailing yachts: they sold hundreds and thousands of them. In 1976 the shipyard equipped a yacht of theirs to take part in the Single-Handed Transatlantic Race. Motorboat racing was not forgotten either: in the 1980s Jeanneau boats took an active part (and won) in a lot of championships: Formula 1, Formula 3000, Niamey-Bamako rally. At the same time, they started experimenting with catamarans: a few generations of Fleury Michon sailing catamarans won a lot of races, including Route du Rhum and led to the creation of Lagoon – a popular serial catamaran, which still exists as a separate brand. In 1995 they launched a brand of premium motor yachts, Prestige, which also became a separate company. A year later Jeanneau joined the Beneteau Group, and is still part of it, preserving its own brand and model ranges.
Highlights
Jeanneau model range is as extensive as its parent company’s, Beneteau’s. Jeanneau produces four ranges of powerboats and motor yachts: open centre console Cap Camarat; Merry Fisher and Merry Fisher Sport with outboard engines for fishing and recreation; family cruisers Jeanneau NC; premium dayboats DB Yachts. Jeanneau sailing fleet is made up of super popular (particularly for charter) midsize sailboats Sun Odyssey, larger Jeanneau Yachts and Sun Fast racing yachts. Reasonable prices make Jeanneau boats sought after all around the world. Jeanneau produces about 6,000 hulls a year, regularly presenting new models in all their ranges.
Achievements
In spite of really mass production Jeanneau offers a very long warranty for their products: a general one for 3 years, and 7 years for the hull structure. A lot of Jeanneau models have been awarded prestigious prizes of the yachting market.
