UK yard Princess Yachts has sold a total of nine hulls in its new X95 superyacht series and is currently in negotiations on the tenth.
The first hull in the X95 series hit the water in February and was recently spotted undertaking sea trials off the coast of Plymouth.
During a virtual press conference today (July 23), Princess chief executive Antony Sheriff said the yard had experienced increased orders throughout the coronavirus pandemic, with between 80-90 boats sold from March to July.
While March and April saw Princess sell “50% of our usual rate”, the month of June was “the biggest retail June in a decade”, Sheriff said. July looks set to follow, he added.
“There’s an incredible demand for boats,” he said. “Our order book is stretching on some models past the summer of 2022. We have an 18 month order book across all of the boats.”
The new X95 model is no exception with nine hulls sold and negotiations underway on the tenth.
Speaking about the figures, sales director Will Green said: “That’s quite a statement.”
He said the yacht’s “flexibility, volume and range” were integral to its success.
Sheriff said interest in the model was “global” with owners from the US, Asia and Europe, as well as a potential owner in the Middle East.
“We have interest from pretty much everywhere,” he said.
Sheriff also spoke about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the shipyard, which completely shut down operations in mid-March.
“As we got to the middle of March, it became clear that it was not sensible to continue with production,” Sheriff said. “We took advantage of the government’s furlough scheme, we made sure the boats were safe and all accounted for and shut everything down.”
While this resulted in some “delays in getting boats out”, he estimated the yard was “among the quickest to go from production to full lockdown back to full production”.
From April 20, the company gradually began to restart production and was back up to full production capacity by mid-May.
During the press conference, Sheriff also paid tribute to the Plymouth based company and its workforce during the crisis.
“The whole COVID situation has been a real voyage and I personally am extraordinary proud of how the company has dealt with it and the resilience that we’ve shown in coming out of it.”
To watch the exclusive tour of the first X95 on Monday, July 27, click here.