04.10.2007 PININFARINA'S EXTRA DIVISION TO DESIGN POWERBOATS

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.

Challenger Powerboats of Missouri has engaged the services of Italian design group Pininfarina to create two 36-foot boats for its high performance series to be ready for delivery in early 2008.


"Makes for an unparalleled experience for its prospective owners." Ms. Phillips added, "We intend to limit production of the two boats in 2008 to approximately 30. We plan to further develop our relationship with Pininfarina over the next few years to deliver other distinctly engineered, high performance boats for the discriminate market."

Challenger Powerboats, Inc. designs and manufactures high performance 'go fast' offshore racing boats, family sport cruisers, jet boats and water ski tow boats under the brands 'Challenger Powerboats', 'Sugar Sand' and 'Gekko', which target the recreational boating market. Proven world-class technology is incorporated into the manufacturing of our award winning boats at the Company's 65,000 sq. ft. facility located on its 12 acre complex in Washington, Missouri and 80,000 sq. ft facility in Fargo, North Dakota. The Company's boats are sold through its dealer network in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Japan. In 2006, Gekko was selected as an official tow boat for the World Barefooting Championships, and the European Barefooting Championships in 2005.
 

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