Lexus Is Selling A Gorgeous $5 Million 2,000 HP Motor Yacht And It Makes Total Sense

I saw an interesting email in my inbox this morning. Lexus has launched its latest product, and “launched” in this case is in the literal sense. The company wants you to spend a whopping $5,000,000 on its latest toy, which is not a crazy supercar but rather a fancy yacht coupled to a pair of Volvo Penta engines making up to 1,000 HP each. As nutty as that sounds, it makes total sense and Lexus’ new LY 680 yacht looks pretty sweet.

This sort of thing isn’t unheard of. It isn’t hard to find a company known best for its cars branching out into vehicles that aren’t cars. Smart once flirted with making electric scooters, General Motors once dominated the locomotive space, and Honda makes one of the coolest jets and some wicked side-by-sides. Mitsubishi is part of a group of companies with a heritage of building everything from warplanes and cargo ships to a failed regional jet.

We’ll hit the enhance button on our monitors and zoom in on what’s happening in Japan. Honda got much of the world on wheels with the inexpensive Super Cub motorcycle and gets your grandma around in the rock-solid Accord sedan. Team Red also makes innovative side-by-sides, an awesome V8 outboard, and some boats to put that engine onto. If you have enough cash, you can ride your Honda Monkey to your Acura NSX, which you’ll then take to your $6.95 million HondaJet Elite II at the local airport.

Some automakers are obsessed with turning themselves into lifestyle brands. Why just own the brand’s vehicles when your whole life can be enveloped in that brand? Toyota and its luxury marque Lexus want to be all over your life. Reportedly, the story of how Lexus got into yachts technically starts with a car, the launch of the fourth-generation Lexus GS.

Lexus Got Boring

As industrial design publication Core77 writes, the story starts with Akio Toyoda, the great-grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, and car enthusiast and former CEO of his family’s company. Toyoda stepped down from the CEO role of Toyota last year to become chairman of the board. As a guy who’d rather strap himself into a racecar than into the seat of a golf cart, his influence will still be able to be seen for years to come.

This story takes us back to 2011. Toyoda took the helm of his family’s company just two years prior during a turbulent time in the world. Toyoda pulled Toyota through the Great Recession, the unintended acceleration scandal, and in 2011, the deadly earthquake and tsunami.

As Core77 writes, the next challenge for Toyoda was not a natural disaster or a global financial crisis, but the fact that when the Lexus GS was unveiled at Pebble Beach in 2011, the crowd went mild. Or, more specifically, people felt that Lexus had gotten boring. That in itself is wild to think about because it was around this time that Lexus had the LFA, a work of art on wheels.

Still, Core77 notes that Toyoda took the criticism to heart and as a response, he decided to reform the products and design of Lexus to create a luxury lifestyle brand. To take that out of marketing speak, this meant building more than just cars.

In 2013, the brand rolled out the Lexus F Sport Roadbike, a bicycle made out of the same carbon fiber used in the LFA supercar. Lexus also collaborated with businesses that had nothing to do with cars from boutiques with luxury goods to an airline lounge at Brussels Airport and a now-closed restaurant in New York.

Toyoda didn’t stop there. Since Toyota is trying to become more of a mobility brand than just a car brand, it made sense for Lexus to also branch further out into different types of vehicles. In interviews discussed by Core77, Toyoda revealed that Lexus is looking into covering land, sea, and air. Toyoda wouldn’t confirm or deny any plans for aircraft, but getting a yacht out there put the brand on water.

Making a yacht had another benefit. In the interviews, Toyoda noted that being a rockstar CEO meant nowhere was truly private anymore. Toyoda would find himself attracted to yachts as a way to finally get some privacy, and he even got himself a sailing license.

In 2017, Lexus unveiled the Sport Yacht Concept in Miami. At first, the boat was not expected to go into production. However, the public reaction was so strong that Lexus teamed up with Italian design studio Nuvolari Lenard and American yacht builder Marquis Yachts to make it real. Reportedly, Toyoda had a connection with Marquis Yachts CEO Rob Parmentier and the latter had been waiting two decades to build yachts for Toyoda.

The Lexus “Luxury Yacht” LY 650 was unveiled in 2018 and went on sale a year later. That yacht, which boasted a 65-foot length, twin Volvo Penta IPS engines, and three staterooms, stickered for around $3.74 million. Lexus never released sales numbers for the yachts, but did say four of them were already accounted for after launch. It’s reported that those may have been the only examples sold. Still, four units must have been enough because Lexus is trying again.

Sleep In Your Lexus

The press release about the LY 680 is short and seems to describe minimal changes. In the car world, this yacht looks something like a mid-cycle refresh. We’ll start with the vague descriptions from the press release:

The concept for the Luxury Yacht is “to feel like a hideout in the middle of the sea, providing a space where discerning customers can feel free and at ease.” The exterior embodies the Lexus design philosophy of L-finesse, and the interior has been meticulously crafted down to the smallest details to provide a comfortable living space. In terms of performance, Lexus aims for confidence inspiring cruising performance, offering stable maneuverability, excellent ride comfort, and quietness.

One of the biggest changes is the fact that this motor yacht will not be built in the United States. Instead, it’ll be constructed by Horizon Yacht in Taiwan.

Reportedly, the three people in the United States and the one person in Japan with the original Lexus LY 650 wanted a larger flybridge (that’s the upper deck), so it was extended by 55 inches. Lexus doesn’t tell us how long the flybridge is, but it’s visibly much bigger than the one on the LY 650. Here, take a look.

The LY 680:

And the LY 650:

Lexus touts the longer flybridge as having a sofa and a barbeque now. Also bigger is the swimming platform, which has grown by about 28 inches so you have more room for activities on the back of the motor yacht. Sadly, Lexus gives us no further details other than that the yacht is now two feet longer, probably due to that swimming platform. It’s noted that while Lexus doesn’t build these yachts, Mr. Toyoda was so serious about the project that he sent Lexus supervisors to live in Wisconsin to help Marquis Yachts create the original LY 650. This yacht is more or less that one, but more.

The rest of the yacht should remain similar to the outgoing LY 650. There are three staterooms onboard for sleeping up to six people and there’s enough room on board for 15 of your best friends to enjoy a seafaring party. The interiors of these yachts are filled with real wood, custom furniture, and a surprising lack of right angles. Everything inside of the yacht is rounded, even the doors. Options include different Mark Levinson surround sound systems, air conditioning, a custom galley, and of course, whatever bespoke designs your bank account can afford.

Power is carried over from the LY 650. You’re getting a pair of Volvo Penta IPS engines with differing levels of output. On the low end, you’re getting a pair of Volvo Penta IPS 1050s. Here’s the weird part: while Lexus markets these engines as making 1,050 HP or 1,350 HP each for 2,700 HP max system power, they officially make less power than that. The Volvo Penta IPS 1050 is a 12.8-liter straight-six diesel making 800 HP at the crankshaft. Pair those up and you get 1,600 HP. 

Your other choice is the Volvo Penta IPS 1350. Once again, the “1350” isn’t horsepower, because this engine (which is also a 12.8-liter straight-six diesel) makes 1,000 HP at the crank. So, what’s up with those numbers? Volvo Penta says that the 1,000 HP pod drive engines (above) deliver the kind of power on the water you’d expect from 1,350 HP inboard engines. No matter which the engines you choose, they’ll drink from a 1,059-gallon fuel tank. 

Volvo Penta says these marine motors allow operators to enjoy the glass cockpit, cruise control, and navigation from the helm using a joystick. 

Obviously, no one on the Autopian team owns a yacht (though Jason does have a watercraft he’s quite fond of), so we couldn’t tell you how good this swoopy motor yacht is. But the people of Power & Motor Yacht appeared to be pleased with the original Lexus LY 650. As I said before, the LY 680 appears to be the LY 650, but with more space. So, I reckon that those who could afford the $5 million sticker will be happy with what they get.

This time, Lexus hopes to move 20 units. Oh, you want one? Lexus says the yacht will be available for purchase in Japan through Toyota Marine and select dealers, with deliveries expected to begin in spring 2026. 

While I may never afford something like the Lexus LY 650, nor would I even have a use for one, I find it a bit silly that Lexus has gotten into yachts in the first place. But I see why it exists. Toyoda saw Lexus and Toyota as transcending car-manufacture status and becoming “lifestyle” brands consumers would see as premium and cool, not merely high-quality and competent. Honda can brag about making motorcycles and jets, while Lexus goes a more regal route with stately rides – and this yacht.

(Images: Manufacturers.)