Sunseeker has recently announced to start building metal yachts in partnership with Dutch shipyard ICON Yachts for the first time in its 50-year history. The first model will be a 49-metre aluminium yacht based on a fast displacement hull form, with completion expected in 2021. The news came after Sunseeker official spoke to SuperyachtNews.
According to the report, the partnership with ICON Yachts was brewing over the last 18 months. ICON was founded in 2005 and immediately promulgated the idea of selling a fully engineered platform which could be customised from the waterline up.
The new 49-metre will render a look of 161 Yacht and tap into the naval architecture know-how of Van Oossanen Naval Architects and a Fast Displacement Hull Form design. Moreover, the profile borrows distinct styling cues from the current Sunseeker range, ensuring a seamless transition of DNA to the new aluminium yacht.
Sean Robertson, Sunseeker’s sales director said: “If you want an engine you go to Germany, if you want fabrics you go to Italy, and if you want a boat built in metal you go to Holland.”
Jen Wartena, CEO of ICON Yachts said: “We connected very well to that because we’ve built a lot of 60m-plus yachts, and while our competition is always looking to go bigger, we have been interested in moving into the smaller brackets – and that’s when we bumped into Sunseeker.”
Besides, both Sunseeker and ICON enthusiastically pointed out that despite the collaboration between the two companies, the yachts would remain Sunseekers. The both further added that the yacht would not merely be ICON aluminium yachts with a Sunseeker badge on them.
“We are an established superyacht brand in our own right and so we are merely combining the metal build expertise of ICON with our design DNA, technical expertise and market know-how,” confirms Robertson. “She will absolutely be a Sunseeker.”
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