Following the unveiling of the new Griffin series last month, which ranges from 66 to 99m, there has been speculation as to whether or not Fincantieri Yachts is planning to shift its focus to the sub 70m superyacht market. Speaking exclusively to Superyacht News, Mauro Parodi, Senior vice president, Fincantieri Yachts, clarifies the Italian shipyard’s position and what we may see from the yachting division in the next few years.

“Fincantieri Yachts is probably best known to have delivered two of the biggest superyachts at sea at today, 134m M/Y Serene, and 140m M/Y Ocean Victory, but we’ve always presented ourselves to the market as builder of superyachts from approximately 70m,” says Parodi. “In our concept portfolio we have other models around this size, such as Aura from H2 or SWATH75. The fact that we’ve delivered two vessels over 100m may have induced the market to identify Fincantieri Yachts as builder of superyachts of these dimensions only, but, as said, we would be more than glad to also show our capabilities for lower sizes.”

Designed by Christopher Seymour and Guido de Groot, with Carl Esch as the design coordinator, the new Griffin 66 is the smallest concept that Fincantieri has produced to date. Furthermore, the yard has identified this size sector as one which is likely to see increasing levels of demand.

“We continuously have discussions with brokers and their potential clients,” says Parodi, “The shipyard is probably better known for larger sizes, but we are confident that the demand toward our company for smaller dimensions will imminently grow. With the Griffin 66 we hope to have given evidence to the market of our competencies in this segment and the interest for this model seems very high.”

"The shipyard is probably better known for larger sizes, but we are confident that the demand toward our company for smaller dimensions will imminently grow."

- Mauro Parodi, Fincantieri Yachts

Although the Griffin series is a ready-to-build design, semi-custom superyachts isn’t something that Fincantieri is looking to focus on in the near future as described by Parodi. “Semi-custom superyachts are not something that we are considering. We’ve always presented ourselves to the market as a yacht builder focused on full-custom ranges and we are not planning to change our perspective, not only because it is something that we’ve always pursued, but also because it is the natural demand by the clients of this kind of product.”

The yachting division of Fincantieri itself is a relatively young faction of the entire company, where the core business is the cruise, commercial and naval sectors. To provide some perspective, over the course of the next few years, the Italian shipyard has specified that it will deliver over 100 commercial and offshore vessels.

While the shipyard has no orders on the books at present, the Griffin series is a new direction for Fincantieri, which reportedly has already seen high levels of interest. This new direction and sub-70m focus in addition to its larger superyacht construction, for which the company is widely known, is a response to Fincantieri’s market research and one that will hopefully bring its yachting division to levels which are closer to its burgeoning commercial divisions.   

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