Yesterday, at the Miami International Boat Show in Key Biscayne, iconic German luxury-supercar maker Mercedes-AMG, and iconic American luxury superboat maker Cigarette Racing unveiled the latest product of their twelve-year collaboration: a boat. The glossy black and red speedboat, called the 41’ AMG Carbon Edition, is the eleventh boat that the brands have created together, and this one, like many of those before it, is inspired by one of Mercedes-AMG’s latest models. In this case, it takes as its muse the all-new $160,000, 630 horsepower AMG GT 63 S, a swoopy four-door that is nonetheless capable of outrageous acceleration, hustling from 0-60 m.p.h. in just a tick over three seconds, quicker than Mercedes-AMG’s own $160,000 range-topping two-seat sports car, the AMG GT R.
The 41’ boat is no slouch in the acceleration department either. Powered by four Mercury Racing 400 outboard motors, the Carbon Edition produces a total of 1600 horsepower. This allows the covered cruiser to reach a top speed of 80 m.p.h. while seating eight passengers comfortably. (The boat can seat twenty people while cruising at lesser speeds.)
Top speed is something that we had the opportunity to experience directly in Biscayne Bay. And we can tell you that 80 m.p.h. in a boat, with a tropical breeze blowing and the seas a bit choppy from the previous night’s rainstorms, feels really fast. But this boat plows right through all of it tirelessly, seamlessly, and with remarkable aplomb. It feels, well, like floating.
The $850,000 boat takes its bold graphic design cues from the AMG logo, which is meant to represent a blend of aggressive sportiness and coddling comfort. The hull is a unique shade of graphite grey, a color created exclusively for the Four-Door Coupe. The deck, rudder, roof lining, and hardtop of the boat are made of carbon fiber, to reduce weight and enhance structural rigidity. And the interior details—decorative speaker grilles, broad LCD instrumentation screens, and ambient lighting—reflect cues from Mercedes’ luxury sedans. But the “Cigarette Cool” upholstery on the seats is an innovation from the boat manufacturer. The fabric reflects up to thirty percent of absorbed heat, allowing a deeper shade of Mercedes-AMG red to be used, without risking roasting the extremities of seated passengers.
Returning to the slip at the Boat Show, we ask a representative from Cigarette Racing if that was the fastest he’d ever gone in a boat. “I once went about 180 m.p.h.,” he said. “At that speed, only a very tiny section of the back of the boat is actually touching the water. That, and the rotors from the motors. You’re on the knife’s edge. The boat just kind of teeter-walks on top of the water.” Upon reflection, we were happy to have gone as quickly as we did, and glad to have not gone quite that fast.
