Niniette 66: Bugatti’s Bond-worthy superyacht

Bugatti, the French-based supercar-maker and subsidiary of Volkswagen, has teamed up with yacht-maker Palmer Johnson to produce the Niniette 66: a carbon-fibre sports-yacht inspired by the design and excess of its £2.1m, 261-mph Chiron hypercar. It is named after company founder Ettore Bugatti’s youngest daughter Lidia, who went by the pet name of Niniette.

The 66-foot yacht is perfect for the super-villain who has everything, says Sean Evans in Men’s Health. It has a 2.7-foot draft, perfect for visiting the shallow waters of the Cayman Islands to launder your dirty money, and boasts more than enough bling to make all your super-villain friends green with envy.

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Quite so, says Andrew J Hawkins on TheVerge.com. What sets the Niniette apart from other, lesser superyachts, is its “absurd number of ultra-luxury accessories”, including a hot tub, a fire pit and a champagne bar. The Niniette’s “extensive use of carbon fibre” not only looks good but reduces weight and increases efficiency too, says Elite Traveler. The spacious open deck, which can accommodate 12 guests, is crafted from leather and blue morta oak (an extremely hard-wearing bog-wood), and in the cabin below there’s a seating area “that wouldn’t seem out of place in an alien spaceship”, says Joel Stocksdale on Autoblog.com. The space-age theme continues into the bedroom, which comes complete with double bed. And if anything it not exactly to your taste, then don’t worry – as with Bugatti’s cars, everything is customisable.

The Niniette is driven by a 16.2 litre, 1,000-horsepower Man V8 engine, which powers the boat to a top speed of 44 knots (just over 50 mph). A 1,200-horsepower version that will hit 48 knots is also available.

The price is only available on request, but is rumoured to be around the $4m mark. The only real question, says Evans, is whether you should really buy one of the 66 that will be built. Because, with a rumoured 80-footer on the drawing board, “who wants to have the smaller Bugatti superyacht? How gauche”.

Length: 66’ (20m). Draft: 2.7’ (0.83m). Engine: 16.2 litre V8. Power: 1,000HP. Top speed: 44 knots (50mph). Price on application.

This article was originally published in MoneyWeek