NOVEMBER 2017
It’s on the same site but then it stood on 10,000 square
feet of rented land; now it’s on almost 500,000 square
feet of owned land. And it has needed it – the yard has
built 14 105s in two years. In 2010 the company’s
turnover was €3 million; in 2016 it was €72 million. It
is, as MCY’s president Carla Demaria puts it, “one of
the fastest growths in our industry.”
The first 96, Mia, made her debut at a glamorous
party in Venice this summer and slots nicely into the
fruitful line. “There was an important gap in the range,”
says Federico Peruccio, MCY’s marketing manager.
“The 96 so far has been an amazing success already on
paper – this is, of course, hull No 1, but the first three
are sold. [The first to a European], the second
in the States, the third will be in Asia.” In other
words, a marketing executive’s dream spread- cracking three major markets.
Mia’s lines speak to her family heritage.
“The yachts look like they can go in the sea –
they are marine looking boats,” says Lenard.
That translates to a powerful bow. “Most of the
competitors’ boats’ bows are lower than they
should be for the displacement and the speed
that they are doing. Not ours. Ours have that
sturdiness of an American sportfisher, made
for high speed and open seas.”
The stern, in contrast, Lenard describes as
distinctly “yachty” with glass fashion plates
creating a “cocoonish” feeling on the aft decks.
Between the two, the styling is all organic
curves and flare, punctuated with a pair of
signature overlapping portlights amidships.
It’s distinctive and unashamedly glamorous –
not least because of her bronze hull.
Inside the 96, MCY offers clients three
troll along any of the Mediterranean’s
glitzier docks and you’ll see two types
of production motor yacht. In one,
distinctive sweeps of architecture
mark out the work of a particular
builder – a yard that has a “look.”
That’s a Sunseeker, or a Princess
perhaps. Then there’s the other type, blurring into a
wall of tombstone white sterns, whose lines don’t even
whisper a brand identity. One type is doing better
commercially – guess which.
When Monte Carlo Yachts started its engines in
Monfalcone, north-east of Venice, in 2010, it brought
in Nuvolari Lenard to design its nascent line of boats
and gave artistic free rein. But it stipulated that the
yachts must have a “look.”
“They had an idea where they wanted to be placed in
the market,” says designer Dan Lenard. “It was a
project [to create] the brand, not design a boat. They
told us what the boat should do as a brand, so we
targeted the boats to the performance and to the
position on the market. We helped them to create a
brand around the product.”
The line, which now includes a customizable semi-
displacement 65, 70, 76, 80, 86, 105 and the latest
addition, the 96, has grown, as Lenard says, with
details from the first boat applied to all. The formula
seems to be working: when the yard launched its first
boat, a 76, in 2010 it had 20 employees; now it has 440.S
GO WITH THE FLOW
Nuvolari Lenard has
blessed MCY’s range
with flowing, sporty
lines, creating a
glamorous profile
and stylish touches
along the side decks,
below, and the aft
platform, above right
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