Buy the superyacht, get the car for free

The 38m Stand Craft 122 superyacht comes complete with an art deco interior - and its own 375km/h supercar. Photo / Supplied.

As every boat manufacturer, distributor or retailer knows, it's not easy to get the punters to part with their money.

Some baulk at $50,000, others at $150,000. In the launch market, $1,000,000 can be just that dollar too far.

To break this resistance, boat sellers have, through the ages, tried myriad tricks.

Early Phoenician traders probably threw in an extra slave or two, to help with the rowing. These days it's more likely to be a piece of modern electronic wizardry or perhaps a fabric upgrade.

But what to you do when the asking price for your boat is a hefty $35 million? Swedish company Strand Craft think they have the answer: they're throwing in a free "supercar" to go with their new superyacht.

The vessel in question is the Strand Craft 122: a 38 metre, sleek, high-performance open superyacht, fitted with an art deco interior and powered by twin MTU 16V4000 engines.

So equipped, it will comfortably zip across the ocean at a sedate 43 knots.

However, recognising that this may be a bit slow for the sort of people with a lazy 35 mill in their back pockets, the Strand Craft people also offer us the chance to upgrade: by adding a pair of Rolls-Royce KaMeWa boosters.

These deliver a far more satisfying 14,000hp and a top speed of 55 knots.

Other features include four very large double staterooms (each with its own 52" LED TV and Bang & Olufsen sound system), several saloon areas, a reception centre and comfortable crew quarters.

And then there is that "little cherry on the top": the complimentary car.

This is designed to be stowed on board (in its own aft garage) so that, wherever one visits, one has one's own wheels.

Of course, the sort of people who own a vessel like this aren't too keen on being seen in a Toyota Corolla so the good people at Strand Craft have come up with something rather more suitable: a co-ordinated, highly stylised, handcrafted supercar (or tender as they prefer to call it).

It, too, has apparently been designed for those who think a moment spent travelling is a moment wasted: it is powered by an 880hp twin-turbo V12 engine and has a top speed of 375km/h.

Although it is hard to imagine where, apart from in a James Bond movie and the odd autobahn, one could drive at such speed. The winding streets of Monaco? The boulevards of Miami?

Still it would be churlish to let such trifling technicalities get in the way of such magnificent extravagance.

Obviously, I want one (I'll work out where to drive it later). And I'm not alone.

According to Kurt Strand, the founder of the eponymous Swedish company Strand Craft, interest in his new superyacht is flooding in from all over the world. Particularly, it appears, from the Middle East.

"It is designed for luxury and for people who want the best," he is quoted as saying, perhaps a little needlessly. "It has a very futuristic design and nothing like this has ever been made before.

"It even has bulletproof windows." (Perhaps an essential requirement in Middle East marinas.)

He also says Strand Craft will produce only six of these boats, although why he wishes to keep it quite so exclusive is not reported.

Although there is unlikely to be a huge rush from New Zealand shores (even our latest Lotto winner is almost certainly several million short of the asking price), demand, it appears, is high.

Five of the six have already been snapped up.

Stand Craft 122

LOA: 38m

Beam: 7.5m

Draft: 1.4m

Displacement: 120 tonnes

Fuel capacity: 20,000 litres

Water capacity: 3000 litres

Engines: 2 x MTU 16V4000 (4610hp)

Drives: 2 x Rolls-Royce KaMeWa 71S3

Optional booster: 5100hp Vericor TF50 booster

Max Speed: (standard): 43 knots

(with boosters): 55 knots

Price: About $35 million

Want to know more? Check out the October/November issue of Propeller magazine or visit strand-craft.com.