From Porsche to Prestige
Although he has been sailing since he was a child, in Optimist, Caravelle or on larger sailboats, Frédéric Ancel had built his professional life in car sales, setting up a series of Porsche centers in Brittany. Since the beginning of 2023, he has entered the boating business professionally, taking over the Force 5 boat dealership from the Nadia group, which is withdrawing from the yachting business, after having recently sold Nicols in the river business.
The business leader explains: "I had been thinking about diversifying for several years. I was already in the top of the range in a beautiful area in Brittany, with the objective of service and customer empathy. When I switched from sailing to motoring, as my children wanted speed, it was a big step. I bought a Prestige and the brand clicked for me. That's when I said to myself: why not distribute Jeanneau and Prestige, with the idea of offering a better image. I approached local distributors for joint ownership, but in the end, the brand put me in touch with the Nadia Group and the director of Force 5, Nicolas Lewkowitz."
Give a better image to the boater
Coming from a high-end automotive background, Frédéric Ancel believes that there is room for improvement in the service to boaters, and intends to capitalize on his experience. "The idea is not to redo everything, but to provide marketing and financial support, to develop services and size the teams for increasingly demanding customers. The service and the display of the boats in the dealerships are generally not up to the level of brands like Prestige. Our challenge is to be a reference in the new dealerships of the 3rd millennium."
With a strategic vision for the next 5 to 10 years, Force 5 wants to work with the factory, because of its geographical position, to be the test center, a showcase for customers around the world. Exclusive distributor in the Vendée, in addition to its sub-agents in L'Herbaudière, La Tranche sur Mer and Bourgenais, Force 5 will open a second dealership in Les Sables d'Olonne, which no longer has a Jeanneau dealer. In addition to Jeanneau and Prestige, the company also distributes Rhea Zodiac and Yamaha and remains open. "We're thinking about Tofinou or other high-end, atypical brands."
Staying on a human scale
The arrival of automotive players in the nautical industry sometimes worries us, with a strong appetite. Frédéric Ancel wants to reassure people about his operating model. If he wants to become the Prestige contact in the Atlantic and eventually move up to Brittany with potential partners, he stresses the importance of remaining human. "It's not a financial fad. I'm not in a race for volume and the ego of being number 1 at all costs. You have to keep the human element and on my 5 automotive sites, with more than 50 employees, I don't have any turnover. What's nice about boating is the ability to move the pieces. In the automotive industry, we may have been too quick and too focused."
