Superyacht builders pair up with luxury car brands to create crowd-pleasing one-offs

Brand power couples are having a moment. Note the recent social media storm when Louis Vuitton announced a collaboration with cult streetwear brand Supreme. Witness the snaking queues every time a new Kate Moss collection arrives at Topshop. And see how skincare brand La Prairie got in on the action at Art Basel earlier this year by partnering up with international artists.

A recent report by luxury alliance Walpole found that 78 per cent of brands were intending to collaborate in some way by 2020. Happily, for bigger ticket buyers, all of this power coupling isn’t restricted to handbags, hot pants and face cream.

Look out to the Med this summer and you’ll likely spy more evidence of this growing trend out there on the water, as shipbuilders and carmakers wake up to the power of the partnership. Stewart Campbell, editor of superyachting authority Boat International, itself a Walpole member, understands why such partnerships could have potential.

“It’s perhaps not totally natural, but there are plenty of synergies. Both worlds have to constantly innovate to incorporate new technologies and attract new audiences,” he says. “Introducing a whole lot of outside creativity can only help push the boundaries of what’s possible, resulting in more choice and innovation for the consumer.

Phil Popham, CEO of British yacht builders Sunseeker, has first-hand experience of these synergies – having joined the business from Jaguar Land Rover in 2015. “At the end of the day, both industries are concerned with designing, manufacturing and engineering luxury products. Yachts are obviously sold in much smaller volumes, but the overriding principles are the same.”

Antony Sheriff, another car-turned-yacht CEO, who jumped from McLaren to Princess Yachts, agrees. “The customers have a lot in common, and you have to have a beautiful, well-built, high-quality product for both.”