Challenger
Powerboats, Inc. has announced that it has engaged the
services of Italian design group Pininfarina to create two
boats in its high performance series. The Company unveiled
illustrations of the newly designed boats during its annual
dealer meeting last week and expects to have boats ready for
delivery in early 2008. The redesigned boats will be 36 foot
models.
Pininfarina,
founded in 1930, is known for its cutting-edge, unique
designs, primarily of sports cars, most notably Ferrari and
Maserati. They are also recognized for their designs of
yachts and private aircraft in the transportation industry,
as well as designs in the electronics, consumer, home and
office, sport, and architecture and interior industries.
Headquartered in Turin, Italy, the Pininfarina Group employs
more than 3,000 employees throughout the world and has
operations in Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, United States,
Morocco and China.
Challenger's
high performance boats are made with the patented Duo
Delta-Conic (DDC) hull, a revolutionary design by
world-renowned marine designer Harry Schoell that combines
two hulls in one to enhance the boat's stability and deliver
faster speeds, better control and a softer ride.
Challenger's high performance DDC series of boats are used
by professional offshore racers in competition.
"We are
delighted to operate in a state-of-the-art market," said
Paolo Pininfarina, President and CEO of Pininfarina Extra,
the division of the Pininfarina Group specializing in
product and interior design. "This is the first engagement
in the boat sector developed by our American branch,
Pininfarina Extra USA, located in Fort Lauderdale (Florida),
an office with an extraordinary growing strength in sectors
such as boat, aviation, residential and hospitality.
Offshore performance boats present a perfect channel through
which we can apply our talent in creating exciting,
breath-taking designs. Challenger's high quality building
standards and state of the art design together with our
design creativity will produce a distinctive recreational
cruiser for the luxury market."
Commenting on
the soon to be unveiled Pininfarina designed boats, Laurie
Phillips, Challenger's president and CEO, stated, "We are
very excited about the concept Pininfarina's design
engineers developed for our boats. The boat features are
engineered for elegant performance. The combination of
Challenger's revolutionary hull design with Pininfarina's
style and sophistication. |