Lexus has launched a yacht, and Lexus’ first yacht could be a sad ending for another company – Marquis Yachts. Sounds a bit counterintuitive but that’s what’s happening.
tLY 650 – the first yacht of a Japanese automaker
The Lexus yacht – LY 650 was built by Marquis based on the 660 sport platform of Marquis Yaachts – an American yacht company. Marquis was once famous for its three Marquis brands – Carver and Larson boat. In Vietnam, only Carver is a known brand, while Marquis and Larson are still very strange.
Marquis Yachts has been quite successful with their yacht products. They build European-style yachts with careful attention to the interior, different from American yachts that are only full of practicality like Viking, or Carver itself. But the market is increasingly fierce and European yachts are increasingly popular with American customers, typically Galeon Yacht. Galeon’s sales have grown steadily over the past four years in North America, leaving Marquis and Carver out of breath on their home turf.
After several years of struggling on the brink of bankruptcy, light flashed for Marquis when Lexus offered to cooperate and Polaris Industry asked to buy the company.n It took 18 months for Lexus’ first product to be born. The selected model is a mid-range yacht – 65 feet with the interior completely renewed by Lexus, along with the dry features of the exterior being also taken care of more. The overall look of the Lexus LY 650 is curves like the Lexus logo. The LY 650 uses many of the materials on the Lexus LS 600 such as leather seats or interior wood panels, and the way Lexus uses curves in most of the interior makes the yacht really soft and very elegant.
Lexus’ famous “L” logo is placed on the main deck floor and is enhanced by using two opposing wood and carpet materials. Meanwhile, other interior details such as the sofa, kitchen partition or even the glass paneling on the stairs leading to the lower deck are stylized into curves. The TV section on the main deck is transformed into a partition between the helm station and the saloon section to create a bit of privacy for the owner and his guests. It can be said that Lexus has completely transformed the interior of the Marquis 660 Sport in the most sophisticated way they applied to their flagship LS600 sedan.
On the exterior, brown tones are used flexibly from light brown strips along the upper deck and dark brown for the body. Two seamless panels of panorama glass, one on the lower deck and one on the main deck, create an overall strong, artistic and quality look of Lexus luxury cars. However, personally, according to the writer, the exterior is a bit cumbersome in the curved details combined with the small flybridge (upper deck) of the LY 650, making the yacht unbalanced.
LY 650 is equipped with two Volvo Penta IPS engines with power options from 1050 – 1350 hp each for a maximum speed of up to 31.4 knots. In addition, the new dynamic design of the boat’s hull offers the advantage of reducing water resistance, increasing stability and operability as well as minimizing fuel consumption.
Both sides believe that new products along with the popularity of Lexus cars in the US market will bring success. And the fact is that LY 650 is very beautiful, very modern, sophisticated in interior, the product received quite good feedback from the US market and had the first orders. The first unit was delivered to customers in September 2019 with an asking price of 3.7 million USD.
Marquis also jumped ahead with the launch of the M42 model – an open sport cruiser model inspired by Tecnorma. The M42 has a bit of a LY650 feel and escapes the American utilitarian label. A very beautiful and sporty cruiser model.
Marquis M42
However, the LY 650 may be the last yacht of Marquis and Lexus when Polaris Industry suddenly withdrew from negotiations to buy Marquis Larson Boat. This led to the company announcing the indefinite closure of the factory with 344 workers in Pulaski from March 1, 2020.
If Marquis has to go bankrupt, it will be a sad ending for them and for Lexus. Because after the LY 650, the next model expected to launch from both sides will be the LY 730. However, yacht lovers will probably have to wait a long time to see with their own eyes the next product of Lexus Yacht, especially when the world is still suffering from the ravages of the Covid -19 virus.
Image source: Summary
Article: Ben Tran – Yachts Columnist
