Benetti's hybrid 67m Symmetry goes to charter at EUR 725,000 a week

The third 67M, and Benetti's second hybrid

Symmetry was built in Livorno and delivered to her owner in June. She is the third hull in Benetti's B.Now 67M Oasis Deck series and the second hybrid yacht the yard has produced in total. West Nautical acted as owner's representative through her technical development, operational planning and commercial strategy, and now holds her charter central agency.

RWD drew the exterior, as it has for the whole B.Now range. The interior is by Reymond Langton Design, which is a departure: Benetti gives Sinot Yacht Architecture and Design as the studio behind the 67M class interior. Volume is quoted at about 1,334 GT by SuperYacht Times and 1,350 GT by the charter agent, so the directories are already a few tonnes apart.

What the hybrid actually is

Benetti calls the system E.Mode and describes it as an auxiliary propulsion arrangement with electric motors working in parallel with the main diesels, not a replacement for them. The class page gives 67.0 m LOA and 11.0 m maximum beam, with a range of 4,500 nautical miles at 12 knots. Symmetry as delivered draws 3.3 m and cruises at 14 knots on a steel hull.

The case for the battery is not mainly fuel. It is that the generator can be switched off overnight while the hotel load runs off stored power, and silence at anchor is what guests notice before anything else. Reduced noise and vibration is the first thing the charter listing sells, ahead of the pool and the terraces.

The rate card, in full

Symmetry runs the Mediterranean from May to September out of Italy, the South of France and Spain, at EUR 725,000 a week in low season and EUR 775,000 in high season, plus expenses. The winter programme is the Caribbean out of Antigua and Saint Maarten at USD 725,000 and USD 775,000. The advance provisioning allowance is 30 per cent of the base rate.

That last line is the one owners tend to skip. A high-season Mediterranean week is EUR 775,000 before an APA of EUR 232,500 and before tax, so the cash number is over a million euros. For an owner modelling charter income against a hybrid specification, the base rate is the top line and not the yield.

A layout built to be re-let

The owner's suite sits on the family deck with a private office, his-and-hers bathrooms, separate dressing areas and its own terrace. Guest accommodation is three double suites, two modular twin or double suites and a flexible forward arrangement on the main deck. The full-beam VIP pairs a bedroom to port with a private lounge to starboard.

Pocket doors split that VIP into two ensuite cabins and the lounge sofa converts to a double, which turns one suite into a children's cabin or staff accommodation without touching the joinery. The lower-deck beach club runs straight into a gym with Technogym cardio and strength kit and a spa with sauna and steam room. She takes 12 guests and 17 crew.

Why a class beats a one-off at resale

Until now the premium for a hybrid drive on a 60-metre-plus build was argued in the abstract. Yards quoted efficiency figures and brokers guessed at what the market would pay for them. Symmetry puts the two on the same hull: a delivered boat, a known platform and a published weekly rate an owner can point at instead of a projection.

Three hulls in, the B.Now 67M is behaving like a class and not a run of one-offs. That gives a broker real comparables the first time one of them comes back to market, which a full-custom 67-metre never has. Benetti has since added a B.Now 52M at 51.50 m to the family, so the range is still moving.