Elan Yachts is to halt the production of its yachts and overhaul both the company structure and its sailing yacht portfolio.
It is not known when any relaunch will take place and what the future programme will look like. The reorganisation could take at least 12 months.
“The decision has been made to subject the shipyard and the Elan brand to a complete strategic reorganisation,” said a statement from Elan.
“At the centre of this process is a complete overhaul and repositioning of our product range.”
The Slovenian based boatbuilder has belonged to Luxembourg-based KJK Sports, since 2018.
According to Melanja Korošec, senior vice president of KJK Sports who is responsible for the strategic repositioning of the Elan brand, production will be reduced over the forthcoming weeks.
“The development of Elan Yachts has become bogged down in a very difficult and challenging market environment in recent years.
“We therefore need to completely reposition the brand and its products,” said Melanja who said there is no timetable yet for the company reorganisation.
“We will tackle the reorganisation of Elan very conscientiously together with our existing partners and take as much time as necessary.”
The shipyard says currently under construction will be completed and delivered, but new boat orders will no longer be accepted.
The shipyard says that advance payments already made for ordered boats will be refunded.
Elan Yachts
Customer service and the Elan Yachts service network will continue to be available.
The Elan shipyard was founded in 1945 with boatbuilding starting in 1949 with a range of small craft, canoes and kayaks.
The first Elan yachts were introduced in the 1970s with the factory focusing on constructing high performance cruising sailboats from the 1980s onwards.
The brand was the first to use vacuum technology in the molding of hulls and decks as well as the first to put two rudders and wheels on leisure sailboats and use chines in the hull design.
Over the years the boatbuilder has worked with many internationally recognised maritime design studios including J&J Design, Humphreys Yacht Design and Studio F. A. Porsche.
Humphreys Yacht Design have been the principal designers for Elan since the mid 1990s, working with the boatbuilder’s in-house engineering team.
The shipyard has around 50 employees.
Elan Yachts is one of KJK Sports four brands. The organisation focuses on the active outdoor sporting goods segment.
