Automakers such as Aston Martin and Porsche have ventured into to yacht design and they're being joined by Alfonso Albaisa who is senior vice president of global design for Nissan. is latest project is the Motali which is a 33 meter long luxury yacht that measures three stories tall.

According to Albaisa, he was approached by a Turkish client in 1990 about the possibility of designing a luxury yacht. While he was already working at Nissan at the time, he says the opportunity was too good to pass up as it combined "my lifelong passion with the job I love."


The client gave Albaisa a rather interesting design brief as customer told him to imagine the Motali backing into its mooring at Monaco and stated the "rear view of this vessel should be like no other." Albaisa set to work and created a stylish luxury yacht which features curved windows, a dynamic bow, and a uniquely shaped upper cabin. According to the designer, he wanted to create something truly beautiful so he gave the Motali a "bullet-like expression and with romantic tapering at the stern that tumbles inwards, similar to the classic vessels of the 1950s."

Of course, the switch from car design to yacht design wasn't exactly easy as Albaisa noted the sheer size of the project made designing it more like creating a building. He also noted the views out the Motali's windows would be as important as the vessel itself.



Albaisa has been pretty busy lately as he helped to create a handful of impressive models including the Infiniti Q60 and the Infiniti Prototype 9.