Istanbul-based Sirena Yachts recently launched its Sirena Superyachts division, with its sights particularly set on one market. “The U.S. stands at the top of country rankings for yachts over 30 meters,” Constantinos Constantinou, head of Sirena Yachts USA, says. “We expect U.S. yacht buyers to be mightily impressed by their innovative design concepts and features.” In an interview with MegayachtNews.com’s editor, Diane M. Byrne, Constantinou explains how the new Sirena 35 Meter (115 feet), 42 Meter (138 feet), and 50 Meter (164 feet) are a natural progression.
Diane M. Byrne: You’ve already been offering an 88, but did you always envision having a superyachts division?
Constantinos Constantinou: We’ve always had bigger yachts—let’s say over 100 feet—in our business plan. But over the last couple of years, that strategy started crystalizing. We were thinking of a 108 composite yacht for a while as a next step. But when looking at the market, the demographics, particularly the trends related to the growth of high-net-worth individuals in the world, one can hear and see that the market is under-served with larger yachts. So, instead of building our next composite yacht, we decided to do it right and step into the superyacht market. And do that with a range of three models with steel hulls and aluminum superstructures.
Diane M. Byrne: Those models seem to be sweet spots size-wise particularly for the American market.
Constantinos Constantinou: I feel exactly that way. I think we’re going to do very, very well. That size range is very, very popular in the U.S. Currently, U.S. sales for Sirena Yachts are 60 percent of production. So we’ve managed in a fairly short amount of time to command a very serious marketshare. Just to give you an idea on units, we’ve so far delivered 48 boats, in less than four years. And we have another 27 on order. This is based on today’s numbers. Particularly, though, as relates to the 88, we’ve delivered three already, and we have two more to deliver next year. And, we’re in the process of signing another order for 2024. So based on how well the product has been received in the U.S. market, we feel very confident stepping into that bigger size range.
Diane M. Byrne: Even though Sirena Yachts’ dealer network doesn’t really deal with superyachts, they do know whether clients are looking at bigger boats.
Constantinos Constantinou: In fact, we have at least four superyacht owners that have bought a Sirena as a second boat. So already there are some touch points with owners. Plus, from our 88 owners, at least half of them have already expressed interest.
Diane M. Byrne: What else do you feel that you bring that buyers aren’t finding elsewhere?
Constantinos Constantinou: It’s not always easy to innovate. But we’re going to focus on two things, the product and our philosophy. So if we look at the product, there’s some good innovation in terms of the layout and ideas with the private terrace for the owner. So we believe that we’ve managed to create something new for the owner’s quarters. We’ve looked at how the aft deck is treated. And we’ve departed from the conventional approach where the aft deck is your dining area. That that has freed up a lot of space on the aft section to do a lot of things.
Everybody who steps onboard our boats can’t believe the space and volume. So we’re going to deliver a kind of volume. I can tell you right now, for instance, that the 35 Meter and the 42 have the biggest gross tonnage in their size class. So size and space and innovative layout is just one thing.
The philosophy of Sirena has been the cornerstone of our success. And that is our respect of the owner, and how we treat the owner. We build yachts for the owners. Obviously, we build yachts for a living, but we want to cater to the owners. I think you hear that a lot, but it’s not something that many yards actually pull off. And we have that approach and philosophy starting at 58 feet. Nowadays, nobody below 100 feet will really entertain customizing boats, other than different flooring, furniture, whatever, all in the name of efficiency. But, the fact that we are a vertically integrated company, and we do everything in house, allows offering a level of customization that buyers just cannot find.
We also attract the experienced owner. Why? Because once they step onboard, they have an understanding and appreciation of what we’re offering. They immediately show their enthusiasm for the product; the respect of what it is that we bring to the table. And they have benchmarks; they’ve owned other yachts in the past. We want to bring to them the kind of respect that goes with that, and then build their next yacht exactly the way that they want it, the way that they couldn’t get it before from anybody else.
Diane M. Byrne: The three superyacht models are all clearly in the 500-GT-and-under market. Do you think you’ll stay within that realm, or go above it eventually?
Constantinos Constantinou: I think it’s really premature to be talking about that. We need to earn our position in that market. So for now, we’re just focused on doing that. And we’ll be happy when we receive the kind of recognition that we would like in that segment.
Sirena Yachts sirenayachts.com
Leave a Reply