STAYING POWER
Over 40 years, Riviera built a family of loyal, global owners who cruise across all oceans on the builder’s stylish and rugged yachts.
SOME OWNERS HAVE HAD 22 RIVIERAS. THIS LEVEL OF BRAND LOYALTY IS ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN THE BOATS.
THE BOSS
Mark doxon was in princess Louisa Inlet, up past Vancouver in British Columbia, when he lost a starter on his Riviera 47 Flybridge. The inlet is a spectacularly secluded cruising location, with towering fjords all around. It’s also a place with no cellphone service, where Doxon was far more likely to encounter actual bears than technicians bearing replacement parts. ¶ Doxon drove the yacht’s dinghy to a nearby youth camp and used its phone to call the team at Riviera. “The next thing I knew, there was the seaplane and the starter and the technician waiting for me,” he says. “The boat was fixed two days later. They had gotten it there from Vancouver.” ¶ That’s the kind of service that makes Doxon a loyal fan of the Riviera brand. He has owned four of the builder’s boats, starting with a 40-foot Flybridge and most recently taking delivery of a 64 Sports Motor Yacht. ¶ While buying four boats from one builder may sound like a lot, Riviera’s team says it’s a common occurrence. Some owners, according to the Coomera, Australia-based builder, have been switching models as their needs evolve over the years through as many as 22 different Rivieras. ¶ Offering enough models to keep owners happy for the whole of their boating lives is all part of the Riviera business plan, which is to engender loyalty through top-notch service, a diverse model lineup, and a commitment to implementing owner feedback that improves all the boats and service along the way. ¶ “To be honest, repeat owners are extremely high for us around the world,” says Stephen Milne, Riviera’s brand and communications director. “If their friends and family are thinking about buying a boat, they’re the greatest advocates for saying you should buy a Riviera.”
FROM AUSTRALIA, WITH PRIDE
The Riviera brand dates back to 1980 near Sydney. Within five years of setting up shop, the yard was delivering boats to owners in the United States and Europe, with the Riviera reputation based primarily on flybridge motoryachts. The typical Riviera owner wanted to go fishing and do some cruising. In the late 1990s, Riviera tried to expand its offerings with models that lacked flybridges and focused on single-level onboard living, but it quickly went back to flybridge boats. ¶ In 2002, when the builder had sold nearly 2,200 hulls, private equity interests led a management buyout. In 2005, Riviera once again tried to expand its lineup with single-level models, and this time, the marketplace for the idea was far friendlier. The builder added a 3600 Sport Yacht that would kick off its Sport Yacht line, with more than 660 owners choosing those models in the years that followed. Other advancements came along too; in 2008, Riviera added Volvo Penta IPS engines to the Sport Yacht line, giving owners features such as joystick control for easier operations. ¶ Then, at the same time that the Great Recession was strangling economies worldwide, longtime Riviera CEO Wes Moxey announced his retirement. A year later, the private-equity owner placed Riviera in voluntary administration, a sign of financial challenges. ¶ As it turned out, Riviera wasn’t even close to being done. In 2012, longtime boater and Australian businessman Rodney Longhurst bought Riviera and took it out of receivership, putting the brand on its current path. One of Longhurst’s first moves was to bring Moxey back as CEO, and Riviera is now celebrating four decades in business. New models for 2021 include the 78 Motor Yacht (the first model in that line) and the 645 SUV-line flagship.
Rodney Longhurst, the owner of Riviera, says he wants the brand’s boaters to have a bucket-list experience every time they’re on board. “To do that,” he says, “we have to care—and care a lot.”
“THEY LISTEN TO YOU”
Ray Haddrell bought Hull No. 10 of the 645 SUV —the first one without a flybridge. It’s his seventh Riviera in about 15 years, and he says he likes the brand because the boats feel rock-solid no matter whether he’s circumnavigating Tasmania or cruising up the Australian coast to Hamilton Island. “As you travel more with your boat, you realize that you need more accommodations,” he says. “Slowly, I’ve just gradually built up in the boats.” ¶ But, Haddrell says, he’s not a flybridge guy. He likes the single-level experience of the SUV line and appreciates that the builder was willing to modify the design for his preferences. ¶ “I had a 51 with a flybridge, enclosed,”
SETTING A COURSE FOR EVERYWHERE
“We have owners all around the world—cruising the Mediterranean and Pacific and New Zealand and Canada and all over—and they’re spending more and more time on their boats.”
—STEPHEN MILNE, BRAND AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, RIVIERA
OH, HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED
“It wasn’t that long ago that a boat was a convertible, and that was it. A 35 convertible was a big boat. A 42 was a ship. Now, the average size that we’re building is 54 feet.”
—STEPHEN MILNE, RIVIERA