40 Years of Evolution for Riviera

During their 40 years, Riviera have faced challenges that sunk many a boat brand. Throughout it all, innovation has been the name of the game

When the Riviera team launched its first 68SMY (SMY) in 2017, it sent a powerful message that they were building yachts that could confidently stand next to the very best in the world. 

The 600-strong team of designers, engineers, boat builders, shipwrights, electricians, and many other skilled individuals, had produced a model that spoke of design, fit out, quality, comfort, and efficiency at a superior level by international standards, and a 72SMY followed soon after. 

This is the culmination of a long and eventful journey over 40 years for Australia's largest and most awarded luxury motoryacht builder. The SMYs today make it clear that even better is yet to come as the team heads towards its 40th anniversary.

WAY BACK WHEN

The Riviera story began in 1980. In a small factory in Terry Hills, in Sydney’s northern beaches, five boat builders and Bill Barry-Cotter began work on a new 38-foot flybridge cruiser to be launched in 1981. As they worked there was not even a name for the business or a boat. 

The team soon moved to new facilities in Queensland’s Gold Coast and built eight Riviera 38 Open Flybridge boats in a year. Within two years, the first boat was exported to the United States and in 1985 Riviera exported to Europe. 

Events around the world have occasionally challenged the business. The 1987 recession saw sales tumble and the ‘recession we had to have’ in the early nineties impacted Riviera and many other businesses. Riviera, however, pulled through.

In 1992 the company opened its doors to apprentices for the first time. The program would develop over the years and in 2000 Riviera launched Propel, a training program to help these young people learn important life skills including confidence building, people skills, financial maturity, and goal setting. In 2021 Riviera welcomed 41 new apprentices, the largest intake ever. 

BUILDING A REPUTATION

Riviera's sales and reputation were built primarily upon a single design concept — the flybridge boat. A simple formula aimed at people who enjoyed fishing and some cruising, it offered an open cockpit aft, an enclosed saloon with a forward galley, and an accommodation deck with enclosed bathrooms and the number of cabins depending on size.

A handful of other designs were trialled over the years, the stand-out being the 4000 and 3000 Offshore models in the late ‘90s. These were single-level boats also designed for fishing and cruising, but without the flybridge and with an open or three-side enclosed helm deck. 

While both achieved significant sales success, Riviera did not pursue this line and would not build another single-level model until 2001 when the first of the M-Series Sports Cruisers was launched. 

The classic flybridge design has evolved significantly over the years. A stand-out of the ‘90s was the 48 which was launched as an open flybridge, quickly evolved as a hardtop model before becoming Riviera's first enclosed flybridge. It was one of the most popular, with 169 built and remaining in production from 1993 to 2004. Today, the flybridge range is represented by the 57 and 54 Enclosed and the 45, 43 and 39 Open Flybridge models. By contrast there are already four SMY models, three Sport Yachts and six SUV models, including the recently announced 645 SUV, for clients to select, as well as the classic-design Belize 54 and 66 Daybridge and Sedans — 22 individual models from 39 to 72 feet.

In 2000, Riviera opened a new purpose-built facility on 14 hectares of land at Coomera on Queensland's Gold Coast. It brought together teams of craftspeople from across three previous facilities in the area, and further increased Riviera’s ability to innovate and meet demand. 

CHANGING MANAGEMENT

As new models and sales increased from the mid-'90s and beyond 2000, outside interest in the business grew. In 2002, Riviera was purchased from Bill Barry-Cotter in a management buyout led by private equity interests. 

At that point, Riviera had built and sold 2197 boats across 32 models, including by far its then most successful, the Millennium design 40 Open Flybridge, which achieved sales of 288 between 2000 and 2007. 

That achievement would quickly be eclipsed under the new owners with the launch of the 47 Open Flybridge that, over two generations of development, sold 292 boats between 2003 and 2012. The year of the 47’s launch coincided with Riviera's largest-ever year of production volume — 421 boats in 12 months, almost two boats leaving the Coomera facility every working day.

The management buyout offered the team the opportunity to make a real advance in design, build quality, engineering and luxury appointments. They would look to diversify the offerings to clients. And that diversification has attracted more people to the Riviera global family of yacht owners, giving them more options as their lifestyles change.

An outstanding success from this was the 51 Flybridge. Launched in 2004, Riviera built 181 boats, including an Enclosed Flybridge version that featured a design innovation that would soon permeate the flybridge models — an internal staircase to the ‘bridge.

NEW DIRECTIONS

In 2005 Riviera unveiled a line that heralded a profound new direction for the marque, the Sport Yacht. The 3600 Sport Yacht may have been relatively small among its peers, but she demonstrated design concepts seen throughout the Sport Yacht models to this day — single-level living, an awning window in the aft saloon bulkhead that, with a pillarless glass door, seamlessly opened the space between cockpit and saloon. There was a lounge across the transom and a cockpit table for dining. She spelled out Riviera’s on-water lifestyle of the future and was a design that would lead to the building of more than 670 Sport Yachts in the following 15 years.

That year Riviera gained a special award that acknowledged the company’s achievements in worldwide sales, the Premier of Queensland's Exporter of the Year, a recognition that would be repeated with many export awards in following years. 

Another significant design shift occurred in 2008 with the launch of the 4400 Sport Yacht. It was the third in the line after the 3600 and award-winning 4700 and followed the design concept first seen in the 3600. But she had a major difference. She was the first model to reflect Riviera’s design philosophy of fitting the best engine and drive system to suit each individual model. 

The 4400 was designed and built specifically to incorporate Volvo Penta's new Inboard Propulsion System (IPS), a technology that would influence Riviera design from that day forward. 

IPS provided joystick control, offering an incredible level of manoeuvrability, particularly in tight spaces, and offered up to 30 per cent greater fuel efficiency with a superior smooth and quiet ride. More importantly for the designers, it provided additional space on the accommodation deck as the engines were positioned further aft than traditional shaft drive systems. This brought forward the midships master cabin, a feature of all larger Rivieras today. While the large SMYs utilise shafts, Riviera has significantly refined V-drive technology that offers design flexibility to optimise weight management. 

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Following a successful Sydney International Boat Show in August of that year during which the company unveiled a new flagship, the 70 Enclosed Flybridge, long-time CEO Wes Moxey announced his retirement from the business following a differing of visions with the private equity backers. Wes had risen quickly through the ranks at Riviera since its early days in Queensland to become General Manager, Managing Director and then, following the management buyout, CEO. 

By this point, the world was entering the Global Financial Crisis and by April 2009 the global boating industry was in steep decline. Riviera needed funding requirements, but as they were not forthcoming the private equity owners placed the company into voluntary administration in early May 2009, weeks before the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show. 

The show was the stage for the launch of one of the most distinctive motoryacht designs by Riviera up to then and was the catalyst for the Riviera owners inspired ‘I luv Riv’ promotion. The 5800 Sport Yacht set a new standard and cemented this design concept into Riviera's line-up, and was powered by triple Volvo Penta IPS. 

The 5800 would evolve into the 6000 Sport Yacht which today is an extremely popular model. 

Between them, Riviera has so far built more than 100 of these yachts and demand today is strong.

OUT THE OTHER SIDE

Riviera would remain in receivership for 34 months, during which time 289 motoryachts were sold — a significant reminder of the marque's appeal and solid owner support.

Many businesses in receivership simply hold on to what they know and attempt to restructure out of trouble. Riviera continued to innovate, launching the 43 Open Flybridge in 2010, which brought Volvo Penta IPS into the flybridge line-up. This model remains in production.

Wes Moxey may have retired from Riviera, but farm life was not enough stimulation for him and together with industry colleague Lee Dillon, he launched the Belize marque of classic-inspired motoryachts in 2011.

They were barely established when Gold Coast businessman and boating enthusiast Rodney Longhurst stepped forward to purchase Riviera in May 2012 and take it out of receivership. His first step was to invite Wes Moxey to return to the helm as CEO. The pair quickly decided that the Belize range comfortably belonged in the Riviera family. 

The first model launched under the fresh ownership was yet another innovation, the SUV. The designers skilfully combined the best-loved elements of the traditional flybridge models with the single-level lifestyle offered by the Sport Yacht layout. Significantly it was the first of these, the 445 SUV, that was the 5000th Riviera built. This model remains in production today. 

In 2013 Riviera was again recognised for its achievements with the industry body's Large Exporter of the Year award. 

RIVIERA SINCE

In the following year the company launched the 50 Enclosed Flybridge, again with IPS power. This model evolved into the 52 and 54 Enclosed Flybridge.

Then came the 5400 Sport Yacht, taking this design to a new level of sophistication and setting the tone for quality and innovation. Borne from the computer screens of the 50 designers, engineers, shipwrights and plug builders working in New Model Development, a 4800 Sport Yacht followed in 2017. 

The 68SMY followed in this same year. She was the culmination of years of experience, research and consultation with many of Riviera's motoryacht owners. A full-size mock-up of the proposed saloon deck and mezzanine was built, and highly experienced yacht owners were invited to inspect and comment. This yacht would encapsulate the very best and most innovative ideas for a world-class motoryacht to be built to voyage the world or escape for long weekend. She would include wide walk-around side decks, multiple living and entertaining spaces, a gourmet aft galley and accommodation equal to the best in six-star resorts. The technology on board would combine simplicity of operation with the most advanced capabilities. 

The slightly larger 72SMY was soon launched, providing more cockpit space. 

A Platinum Edition of the Sport Yacht line was unveiled in 2019 and later that year Riviera completed the largest single shipment of yachts to the United States in its history. 

In 2020 a 64-foot version of the Sports Motor Yacht was launched followed by a 50SMY. 

Also, in 2020, the industry body, AIMEX, once again awarded Riviera Large Exporter of the Year, and in New Zealand, Riviera owners celebrated Riviera’s 40th year with a world-record raft-up of 106 motoryachts.

Earlier this year Riviera announced a new 645 SUV model to premiere in April 2021 and there are further new model announcements to be made over the course of the year. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Today Riviera has the strongest forward orders the company has ever had. To meet this global demand, the company has begun a program of expansion of the site that today is the largest luxury motoryacht building facility in the southern hemisphere.

In the 19 years since the management buyout, the Riviera team has expanded the model range to five distinct collections and built 3077 motoryachts across 69 models — all of which has been achieved through consequences of the management buyout, a Global Financial Crisis, nearly three years in receivership and the challenges of the global pandemic. 

It is no surprise that Owner Rodney Longhurst points to his own inspiration.

“I am a huge believer that together we can achieve anything, and our incredible team keep reaching above and beyond the capability they thought they had,” he said. “I'm grateful and inspired by the support and loyalty of our global family of more than 5650 motoryacht owners the world over. 

“There’s a special word why people purchase a Riviera — that word is trust,” he added. “Even when we were in receivership, 289 people had faith and purchased a new boat from us. That’s the power of the Riviera reputation, and we take that very seriously.”