Niniette 66: Bugatti’s Bond-worthy superyacht

published 28 September 2018

Bugatti, the French-based supercar-maker and subsidiary of Volkswagen, has teamed up with yacht-maker Palmer Johnson to produce the Niniette 66: a carbon-fibre sports-yacht inspired by the design and excess of its £2.1m, 261-mph Chiron hypercar. It is named after company founder Ettore Bugatti's youngest daughter Lidia, who went by the pet name of Niniette.

The 66-foot yacht is perfect for the super-villain who has everything, says Sean Evans in Men's Health. It has a 2.7-foot draft, perfect for visiting the shallow waters of the Cayman Islands to launder your dirty money, and boasts more than enough bling to make all your super-villain friends green with envy.

The Niniette is driven by a 16.2 litre, 1,000-horsepower Man V8 engine, which powers the boat to a top speed of 44 knots (just over 50 mph). A 1,200-horsepower version that will hit 48 knots is also available.

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The price is only available on request, but is rumoured to be around the $4m mark. The only real question, says Evans, is whether you should really buy one of the 66 that will be built. Because, with a rumoured 80-footer on the drawing board, "who wants to have the smaller Bugatti superyacht? How gauche".

Length: 66' (20m). Draft: 2.7' (0.83m). Engine: 16.2 litre V8. Power: 1,000HP. Top speed: 44 knots (50mph). Price on application.

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.