Norbert Leifeld has taken over as CEO of Bavaria Yachts from Michael Müller as part of a planned leadership change.
He will manage the shipyard together with chief financial officer Thorsten Gatz who has been responsible for the shipyard’s finances since 2022.
Norbert has been COO of Bavaria Yachts since 2023 and previously worked for 15 years as a consultant in the areas of product strategy, product development and production.
Within Bavaria Holding, he also acts as President de la Societe for the French catamaran shipyard Nautitech.
Michael took over as CEO of Bavaria Yachts in 2019 and has played a key role in the development of all new sailing yachts in the Bavaria C-Line and the motorboats in the new Bavaria SR-Line.
The challenges of recent years…have always been very demanding.
Kai Brandes
From 1 July 2025, Michael will join the Advisory Board of Bavaria Yachtbau Holding under the leadership of Advisory Board Chairman Kai Brandes (CMP), continuing to be available to the Bavaria management.
In addition, Dr Hans-Peter Mertens (Chairman of the Stürtz Group, among others) has been appointed as a further member of the Advisory Board.
“On behalf of the Advisory Board of Bavaria Yachts Holding and the entire workforce, I would like to express my thanks and deep respect to Michael Müller for his work as CEO of Bavaria,” said Kai Brandes, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Bavaria Yachts and Managing Partner of the Berlin-based investor CMP.
“The challenges of recent years – be it the pandemic, supply chain problems or the coronavirus hype – have always been very demanding. Bavaria has mastered them all.”
Kai added: “I am delighted that he will continue to support us as a member of the Advisory Board.
No one knows Bavaria Yachts and the yacht industry from different perspectives as well as he does.
Kai Brandes
“At the same time, I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Norbert Leifeld as our new CEO.”
And Kai pointed out that Norbert has successfully managed numerous important projects for Bavaria Yachts.
“No one knows Bavaria Yachts and the yacht industry from different perspectives as well as he does,” concluded Kai.
The new organisation will equip Bavaria for the future. The shipyard implemented ‘breathing’ production two years’ ago to compensate for fluctuating market requirements in production in order to prepare for the challenges of a cooling economy.
The current model range of sailing and motor yachts will be expanded to include e-drives in order to attract new customers.
The shipyard says that in future, the focus will be more on maintaining and acquiring new customers with the Bavaria Family of future and existing owners benefitting from an optimised customer journey, an expanded network of Bavaria Service Centres, a wider range of aftersales services and training courses.
