With the Gran Turismo 41, the French shipyard Bénéteau announces a deep upgrade of one of its best-sellers, the Gran Turismo 40, launched in 2016, which has been awarded the European Powerboat of the Year.

The Gran Turismo range represents a key segment of the French Bénéteau shipyard's motorboat offer.

These boats consist of express cruisers, motorboats with a sporty character, whose wheelhouse is open at the stern, and which are propelled either by inboard or outboard engines. 

These units are characterised by their great versatility of use, and their popularity, particularly in the Mediterranean area, managing to reconcile things that are by nature quite irreconcilable, such as sporting performance, real driving pleasure, and the ability to envisage spending holidays on board, for coastal sailing or even more distant journeys, particularly crossings to Corsica...

At Bénéteau, this offer is rich in 6 models, with the Gran Turismo 32, Gran Turismo 36, Gran Turismo 41, Gran Turismo 46, Gran Turismo 50 and Gran Turismo 50 Sportfly, which is geared towards the more classic market of flybridge motorboats, a market in which the French group reigns supreme with the luxury brand Prestige Yachts.

The announcement of the launch of the Gran Turismo 41 at the beginning of the year - the Düsseldorf Boot comes to mind, but nothing is less certain as the holding of this event is clearly being called into question, a delay in April having been evoked which satisfies no-one - is therefore an important moment for the Bénéteau brand, which 4 years after the launch of the Gran Turismo 40, is presenting an upgraded version of it, in order to keep up with the latest developments in the range.

In terms of style, the Gran Turismo 41 features unified hull glazing, which lengthens the boat's line, reinforcing the impression of power it gives off, as well as two-piece saloon side windows. Gone are the four-piece windows, one of which opens out, and the very large uprights, especially horizontal ones, which made peripheral visibility difficult. 

The cockpit saloon (they are almost merged with the roof cap almost to the right of the bathing platform) has a modified layout, with a U-shaped starboard saloon, the integration of a huge aft sundeck, and a single access to the steering position allowing 3 people to be accommodated while sailing.

The whole family will be seduced by this new layout: a sun canopy joins the forward sundeck, reinforcing the attractiveness of this area, which is always popular at anchor.

Another evolution, this time on the engine hold side: the 280hp Volvo Penta D4 block with stern drive transmission is replaced by the 300hp, the Gran Turismo 41 can also be powered by the 380hp, for respective top speeds of 33 and 38 knots, and cruising speeds of 23 and 27 knots. 

In a few days time, we'll be coming back to this new model in a special broadcast of the BoatScopy show.