LEXUS FOR THE SEA
Hear the words: “Sweetie, I’m thinking about getting a new Lexus” and you’d be forgiven for presuming your better half was pondering the purchase of a shiny new Japanese saloon car or hybrid SUV. Definitely not a 65ft, 2,000hp luxury sportsyacht with a starting price of $3.6 million, or $4.7m fully loaded.
It’s not the first time a luxury car manufacturer has attempted to replace four wheels with twin screws but this offering deserves to be taken more seriously than most. The sleek Lexus LY 650 is a proper production flybridge sportsyacht designed and built in close co-operation with the Japanese car maker by Marquis Yachts in Winsonsin, USA alongside its existing range of Marquis and Carver motorboats. In UK terms it’s more like Range Rover deciding to design and build a 65ft flybridge in conjunction with Princess rather than Quintessence Yachts building a handful of rarified Aston Martin AM37 superboats.
Why a boat? Right now Lexus is on a mission to become a luxury lifestyle brand – not just a car maker. It reckons that building a line-up of sleek, sexy motor yachts is a pretty good way of helping achieve that goal.
