The sleek and sexy Bugatti speed boat you might have seen with the stylized “EB” emblem on the stern and a CGI bikini babe on the deck is actually made by Palmer Johnson. And at $3,500,000 it’s one of their entry-level offerings.
Bugatti the car company has indeed officially endorsed a sub-brand of sport yachts, called “Niniette.” That was apparently Ettore Bugatti’s nickname for his daughter. Now it’s been appropriated to stand for supreme supercalafragalstic luxury lifestyle, baby. I’m sure ol’ Ettore would have wanted it that way.
The boats are variants of the Palmer Johnson SuperSport series. As Bugatti describes their signature touch; “the falling shoulder line of the Bugatti Type 57 C Atalante and the perfectly balanced proportions of the Type 41 Royale.” A two-tone colorscheme is also supposed to be Bugattiesque.
You’ll be able to see a lot of exposed carbon fiber on the side (will that survive sand and salt?) and big swaths of titanium.
On deck “brown bubinga, maple or naturally blue morta oak wood provides a warm contrast with the lightweight high-tech materials.”
Basic specifications of the PJ63 Niniette; 63 foot overall length, 20.3 foot beam, two living rooms, “luxurious accommodation” for four people plus a crew cabin. You can also get a little roof!
A PJ42 (42 feet) and PJ88 (88 feet) will also be joining the catalog. And if you like what you see, get your order in now because they all take about a year to build. If you want to bob around the ocean like some kind of peasant.
Real ballers will skip the cereal box toys and step right up to the flagship of Palmer Johnson’s fleet; the 72M SuperSport:
236 feet tip to tail. 1305 gross tonnage. Dear god. I’m afraid of this thing even if it is only rendered in CGI.
Interestingly none of Palmer Johnson’s own images, of the Bugatti boat or others, appear to be “real.” So until they lend us one of their machines for my personal use I’m going to go ahead and call vaporware on this whole operation.
Not really, but hey. Can I borrow one anyway? I want to try an tow it with my fifteen year old pickup truck.
Images via Bugatti, Palmer Johnson
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.