Just two weeks after Turkish superyacht builder, Bilgin Yachts launched it largest ever yacht, the 80m Bilgin 263, the shipyard has confirmed that the third unit of this mammoth project has arrived at its West Istanbul Marina for outfitting. Scheduled for delivery in 2022, the 80m project referred to as NB78, is said to have an entirely different layout to her two sisterships.

The Bilgin 263 series has been designed and engineered by Unique Yacht Design, and created to feature contemporary lines and generous living areas. As we have seen in the past two weeks, the newly launched vessel can certainly vouch that this has been achieved with a sharp and quite aggressive profile.

"With her design and comfort elements, the Bilgin 263 is truly one-of-a-kind,” says Emrecan Özgün, CEO and the Founder of Unique Yacht Design. “We created a very attractive yacht with a sleek and sexy profile while avoiding a high dosage of design clichés. The increase in living areas normally results in bulky designs. The Bilgin 263 has a design attitude that will dominate the yachting sector around the world. This will clearly make her a trendsetter among steel-aluminium superyachts of today."

According to the shipyard, the theme for the yacht’s interiors are based on a light but rich palette, with what the shipyard refers to as a crisp and contemporary feel. While this model in the range will have many similarities to the first two units, NB78 will essentially be a modified version.

“As the first two hulls attract attention, Bilgin Yachts started to build the third one on-spec.” says Özgün. “The customer feedback helped us to optimize this third hull. So, we can define her as the facelift version of this series.”

According to The Superyacht Agency, Bilgin Yachts is on schedule to creep even further up the size spectrum, having received an order for an 85m superyacht, scheduled for delivery in 2023. To date, the shipyard has delivered 24 superyachts and have a further five vessels under construction including a 67m speculative build that is scheduled for delivery in 2022.

There is no doubt that Turkey presents bountiful opportunities to prospective owners looking for value in the new-build market, and clearly more than capable of building at the upper end of the size spectrum as proved by this 80m series. For well over 100 years, Turkey has been an important contingent in superyacht construction. And, with a fleet of 404 vessels, the country can boast output figures that are higher than the UK (378) and Germany (257).

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