Fairline Boats
Fairline Boats Ltd[1] is a British luxury motor yacht builder, currently owned Better Capital and RBS. Started in 1963 by Jack Newington, the company presently builds motor yachts in both its original Oundle base as well as in Corby, Northamptonshire
History
The company started when Newington bought a series of gravel pits on the River Nene and built the Oundle Marina. In 1967 he launched the first Fairline boat, a 19foot handcrafted glass-reinforced plastic river cruiser.[2] When Newington's son Sam, a former Royal Air Force pilot and Columbia University MBA graduate, took over in 1971, the company employed 14 people. Sam expanded the companies sales network overseas to take advantage of the expanding Mediterranean market place - by 1979 the company employed 140 people and turned over £5million, with production expanded by the success of 1977's Fairline 40 model.[2]
The company expanded in the 1980s developing lines of high speed cruising yachts. When Sam retired in 1996, CEO Derek Carter expanded the company further by establishing Fairline Boats of North America Inc., creating a network of 35 dealers.[2]
In 2002 the 10,000th Fairline was completed, together with new production facilities at the original Oundle site. By 2010, the 12,000th Fairline was completed and shipped, namely a Squadron 55 to a client in Italy. The Fairline Owners Club was founded in 2003,[3] and in 2006 company was purchased by its existing management, funded by 3i.[2]
The company launched the Fairline Targa 38 in 2006 and it has been one of the fastest-selling models in the Fairline range, winning the prestigious ‘European Powerboat of the Year’ in the 30ft to 40ft category in 2007.[4]
In Sept 2008 Fairline embarked on a redundancy programme shedding 95 jobs in Dec 08 and a further 250+ jobs in March 09.
Fairline was purchased by Better Capital and the RBS in July 2011.[5]
Range
The range presently includes the following models:
- Squadron - first launched in 1991 with the Squadron62, a "large yacht" range
- Targa - first launched in 1985, a series of sports style boats. The range is topped by the Gran Turismo models, first launched in 2003
As of 2012 The line includes sport cruisers from 38' to 62' with larger vessels being added to this growing category. The SQUADRON (Fly Bridge) line has a range of models from 42' to 78'[citation needed]
See also
References
External links
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