Marquis Yachts, LLC, makers of Marquis and Carver Yachts has partnered with Toyota Motor Corporation's Marine Department to engineer and build a prototype, concept boat with a luxury mission worthy of the Lexus brand. The result is a one-of-a-kind, bespoke 42 foot open sport yacht that applies the Lexus design language to a maritime concept.

"We are honored and extremely proud that Toyota Marine and Lexus selected Marquis Yachts and our hundreds of boat builders in Pulaski to build this concept boat," said Rob Parmentier, president and CEO of Marquis Yachts, LLC. "The selection of our organization is a recognition of the ability of our employees to build high-quality boats to the impressive standards of a premier automaker like Lexus - a company that has come to symbolize precision execution and quality in the minds of luxury consumers."

"We worked closely with Diesel Center Frabetti Design of Italy and with the Lexus designers and Toyota Marine engineers from Japan to ensure we met the exacting quality and performance standards Lexus expects when putting their name on a product," said Josh Delforge, Marquis' vice president of design and lead on this project. "This project used all the in-house capabilities we have at our disposal, including engineering, modeling, mold-making, lay-up of composite structures, metal shop fabrication, upholstery, paint and other techniques to come to life."

"Marquis Yachts management and employees immediately took ownership and have invested themselves in this incredible project as if it were theirs, and we felt a kindred spirit and trust in them. We are honored to have worked side-by-side with Marquis on this very expressive and unique project for Lexus," said Hiroshi Morimitsu, Toyota Marine Department General Manager.

"In building the Lexus Sport Yacht concept, we managed and administered a quality program to their exacting standards and expectations: we'll apply what we've learned to all Marquis and Carver Yachts going forward," said Paul Liss, Marquis' vice president of operations and manufacturing. "We worked with extreme tolerance levels to construct this boat: essentially these are aerospace-like tolerances and specifications. I am very proud to be a part of this as is our entire team. This will raise our own quality and construction standards to new levels."

The Lexus Sport Yacht concept made its global debut on January 12, 2017, at a Lexus-hosted "Through the Lens" global media event in Miami.