This Chinese Company Wants To Sell You A Yacht For The Price Of A Used Car

Most Americans spend much of their income on necessities: housing is typically their biggest monthly expenditure, followed by transportation, and then food. On average, a roof over our heads, a way to get to work or school, and groceries take up almost half of our income. We spend what’s left on a variety of things, from insurance to entertainment, and hopefully have enough left over for a vacation. Those that are lucky enough to have a budget for luxury items typically focus on small items like footwear or watches, not high-end cars or yachts. While many Americans own a boat, about 95% of those are considered small craft at less than 26 feet long. Larger, luxurious yachts are out of reach for most of us, but a Chinese company hopes to change that, at least in China.

Richard Liu, the founder of online Chinese retailer JD.com, recently launched a new brand called Sea Expandary in the hopes of opening up the country’s leisure vehicle industry to consumers that many not otherwise be able to afford luxury boats, planning to sell yachts for what Americans may pay for a used car. He will invest about $723 million in the venture and is strategizing with two coastal cities in the province of Guangdong for research and development, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales services. At a signing event for the new company, Liu told reporters, “Yachts should be affordable for ordinary salaried workers and everyday consumers.”

The word yacht brings to mind wealth and a lavish lifestyle most of us can only dream about. In fact, according to U.S. News & World Report, the average cost of a yacht in 2023 ranged from $500,000 to $10 million or more, with super yachts like those owned by billionaires ranging in the hundreds of millions. It’s hard to imagine the words “yacht” and “affordable” existing in the same sentence, but  Liu hopes to build yachts that will sell in the same price point as inexpensive cars, for about $14,500 in U.S. dollars.

The yacht industry is booming in China, increasing from around 4,500 to nearly 10,000 over the past three years, and is expected to continue growing for the foreseeable future. That number may sound small, but the middle class is a rapidly growing sector in China, and is a demographic that Liu clearly hopes to tap into.

The manufacturing of pleasure vehicles lags behind commercial shipbuilding, however — more than half of global shipbuilding is done in China. The country hopes to see growth in tourist industry beyond making yachts more affordable for the average joe, with plans to expand yacht tourism routes and programs. What does this mean for Americans? Not much for now, especially with the Trump administration’s sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, but if affordable yachting takes off in China, it has the potential to boost industry growth elsewhere.