Prince Michael unveils 110mph craft with a racy £1m price tag (From Daily Echo)

Prince Michael unveils 110mph craft with a racy £1m price tag

5:30am Friday 15th December 2006 in News By Matt Smith, Politics and business reporter

IT is set to become a late entry on every billionaire's must-have Christmas list.

With a £1m price tag the world's fastest and most exclusive diesel production boat was launched on the Solent yesterday.

Developed to suit the tastes and the pockets of the world's richest by Lymington-based XSMG Marine Ltd, the XSR48 is capable of speeds of up to 110 mph.

HRH Prince Michael of Kent, the Queen's first cousin, unveiled the shimmering boat, dubbed No Boundaries', which would not be out of place in a James Bond movie.

Manufacturer XSMG says it combines the DNA and high performance of a supercar with superyacht styling to create the "world's first true superboat". Only 100 will be made.

The boat was built at Lymington's famous Berthon Shipyard in partnership with local companies such as Green Marine and award-winning superyacht designers Redman Whiteley Dixon of Beaulieu.

XSMG employs 20 people, with up to 90 workers, largely from the New Forest, involved in production of each boat. About 24 will be built each year.

It is being seen as major boost for the profile of Hampshire's marine industry.

The boat will be marketed with a series of attempts on world endurance speed records next year by XSMG Marine CEO Ian Sanderson and director Peter Dredge - both world powerboat champions and multi-world record holders.

Mr Sanderson, who has lived in Lymington with his family for the past 12 years, declared: "There is nothing like this on the market."

He said he had signed ten provisional contracts with 70 more expressions of interest.

Prospective buyers include three Brits. Up to 20 boats are expected to be sold in the first year.

He said the ultra-rich were splashing out on supercars but until now there was no marine equivalent.

"The major advantage of a superboat is the freedom the ocean offers our clients to enjoy their investment," he said.

"There really are no boundaries, no speed cameras or speed traps on the open sea, and you can take your friends with you at 100 mph.

"It was an amazing challenge, but to find such incredible design and engineering talent in a ten-mile radius of the shipyard in Lymington is a further example of the region's place at the pinnacle of international marine design and boat building."

Prince Michael said: "The boat is the product of three great British attributes: innovation, entrepreneurship and a taste for adventure.

"It's a true super product of which British industry should be proud."

More than 55,000 man hours went into the development of the XSR48, with designers, naval architects, craftsmen and engineers exploring every aspect of hydrodynamic, aerodynamic, aesthetic, ergonomic, propulsion, power and performance.