This slippery looking new 38 footer is the first Dehler built entirely by Hanse at their factory in Griefswald, The Hanse Group now includes five brands, so the decision to take production in-house (as per Moody), made inevitable economic sense.
A crucial benefit is obviously the price-tag. Dehler have traditionally carried premium pricing for their quality builds, but this comes with a very appealing base price of €129k ex VAT. And this is significant as the 37-39ft performance market is deluged by premium performance cruisers at the moment with the likes of the XP38, Grand Soleil 39, Arcona 370, and the Solaris 37. The Dehler undercuts these by a significant margin, and price-wise now competes with the likes of Salona, First, and Dufour (even undercutting the 36P) – the new Elan 400 could make an interesting competitor. The slight own goal of this pricing restructure is that it renders Dehler’s own 41 all but redundant, as the 38 feels more spacious throughout and costs €100k less!

But is this new performance cruiser a Dehler or a Hanse? And would she retain the performance, innovation and durability that Dehler built their name on?
We traveled to Marseille to find out by testing the brand new first boat, and were joined by Karl Dehler, the man who almost single-handedly drove the concept of the 38.

See the full report in the June issue of Yachting World, out now.