Mercedes AMG and Cigarette Racing team up for ultra-performance boat

Two celebrated performance brands--Mercedes AMG and Cigarette Racing--unveiled a custom Cigarette inspired by the SLS AMG (“Better Than the Original?”, AW, Nov. 30, 2009), at the Miami International Boat Show.

Though the boat is based on Cigarette's 46' Rider, Cigarette says a clean-sheet approach was used to build the all-new boat.

A pair of twin-turbocharged, 552-cubic-inch V8s power the boat, developed by Mercury Racing and cranking out and unbelievable 1,350 hp--each. The quad-cam V8s are port-fuel-injected and use water-cooled turbos on each cylinder bank. Top speed is estimated at 130 mph--flat flyin' on the water.

Even the paint is special: The boat is hand-painted in AMG silver (also available on the SLS). It is painted with a process AMG uses exclusively, imbedding tiny color pigments designed to cover the boat's body surfaces in a way that targets reflections to highlight the hull's character lines and design details. The silver is accented with AMG white metallic.

Inside, the boat features marine-grade upholstery that resembles the two-tone AMG leather from the SLS.

Cigarette president and CEO Skip Braver said the link between Cigarette and AMG is natural, and he's right: Both are highly respected performance brands. Cigarette, founded by legendary ocean racer Don Aronow, has won numerous American Powerboat Association and world Offshore powerboat titles and owns several speed records, while AMG started as a company that raced Mercedes-Benzes successfully before moving into tuning in the '70s.

By Wes Raynal