ORIGIN
The impetus for the development of the boat was given a few years ago by Toyota President Akio Toyoda, when he spent a few days on the water at the invitation of the Toyota Marine Department, while the new Toyota premium yachts of the Ponam range were being prepared for the market launch in Japan. Toyota is the Japanese market leader in the premium yacht segment with the Ponam boats.
As a “Master Driver”, Toyoda was thrilled with the sheer power of the turbodiesel engines, as well as the handling and stability made possible by the advanced hull design; as Chief Branding Officer of Lexus International, he recognized the lifestyle potential for the Lexus brand that lies in a stylish premium performance yacht, and back in 2017, Lexus unveiled the result on the island of Di Lido in Biscayne Bay off the coast of Florida: the prototype of a Lexus sports yacht.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Lexus’ Toyota City design centre in Japan was commissioned to develop an open-top sports yacht with modern styling and handling for six to eight guests and with two 5.0-litre V8 petrol engines.
In the summer of 2015, President Toyoda, Chief Officer Global Design and President of Lexus International Tokuo Fukuichi and Senior Managing Officer Shigeki Tomoyama, responsible for the Toyota Marine Department, were presented with two separate designs from different teams.
“It has been a very exciting and valuable project for the Lexus Design Centre, as it has unleashed creative energies and expanded our imagination to explore new design and lifestyle possibilities outside the automotive world we are familiar with.” The selected proposal was refined later in 2015, during which the Toyota Marine division took care of the design and installation of the on-board systems.
The Lexus sports yacht presented in Miami is a one-off, serial production is not planned. It was manufactured in collaboration with the Marquis-Carver Yacht Group from Wisconsin, USA, which has a lot of experience in handling large composite structures.
