One of the oldest of French yacht builders, Chantier Naval Couach, has announced a range of dynamic changes to its management team, at the same time as it introduces a new line up of yacht designs.
Seeking a more contemporary look, Couach has also announced a collaborative project with Monaco based yacht designer Espen Øino.
The new wave of talent includes new CEO Walter Ceglia who takes up the post to drive the company’s new growth. A Harvard Business School alumnus who speaks six languages, Ceglia brings two decades of experience in the energy, automotive and electronics industries across four continents to Couach.
He is joined by, new Deputy General Manager Michel Prezioso, an expert in luxury markets, who will also be managing the company’s marketing and sales activities.
As well as team announcements, Couach held a special event at the Monaco Yacht Club to which we were invited.
There they released the first details of two new concepts from in-house designers Clément Carbonne and Diane Viboud, as part of a fully revised product line. Their most exciting, was a 38 metre semi-displacement explorer vessel.
The surprise news of the evening however, was the unveiling of Espen Øino, as their chosen designer for an all new line up to their superyacht range.
Espen took the podium to describe and describe his Couach Timeless Collection designed for the company that will include six fast flybridge yacht models between 20 and 40 metres. “The size range,” he explained, “Allows yacht owners to embrace the sweet spot between experiencing the luxury of a superyacht, through design features and on-board crew, while maintaining a closeness to the water that can be lost on larger vessels.”
He showed us his design for a 26 metre model and revealed that a further five models are expected to follow in coming months. The 26 metre fully composite yacht is the smallest ever designed by Øino and his team.
It has a relatively linear design, in particular around the windows, but softening curves are found throughout the profile, for example around the windscreen, flybridge and knuckle.
When creating the look of this boat, we drew upon the historically strong Couach identity established between the 1970s and 1990s,” he said. He added, I sought to bring back all that was distinctively Couach and instantly recognisable but embolden it with strong, modern and meaningful lines.” He said. “Although this new design is elegant in its self, it also reflects the serious purpose of Couach’s fast patrol boat heritage.
At the same time Øino told us of what he calls The Couach Super Yacht Collection designed to offer unrivalled space and supreme comfort in a transatlantic-capable vessel of 40 plus metres. He also confirmed that currently, one preliminary concept has been completed and will presented to a potential client.