Pershing turns 40: Celebrating a rich history and revealing what lies ahead

Forty years on, Pershing stays ahead of the curve, making history with every yacht reflecting the brand’s promise of performance, power and pleasure in perfect harmony, as Ferretti Group CEO Alberto Galassi explains…

“The Pershing 45 made its debut with a huge splash in 1985. At the time, there were no other boats on the yachting scene that combined cutting-edge aesthetics, luxurious comfort and thrilling performance. It’s no coincidence that after seeing her at the Genoa Boat Show, with her super-modern design, 13.7-metre length, superlative performance and three cabins, Piero Ferrari fell in love and immediately wanted one for himself. Ferrari Formula One racing driver Michele Alboreto bought one too. Pershing founder Tilli Antonelli was way ahead of the curve when he created a brand 40 years ago that still leads the field in terms of performance and style.

“The 'P' in Pershing stands for Performance, Power and Passion. No one can offer the same performance and cruising comfort as a Pershing. Pershing is also beauty: it’s design, style and technology. It’s pure emotion. That’s why there are Pershing owners of all ages. Experienced owners love these boats, as do so many younger fans, such as the incredible and lightning-fast Formula One driver George Russell (see below). He lives in Monaco, the ideal place for a boat, but he’d never had one before. And if you love speed and comfort, Pershing offers both.

“After 40 years of success, Pershing is still ahead of the curve, driven by a formidable combination of innovative vision and the ability to anticipate market trends. In recent months, we completed the launch of our GTX models, the range of “Sport Utility Yachts” that retain their Pershing DNA but feature completely new volumes and liveability. Following the GTX116 and GTX80, launched in 2024 and already a design award winner, we launched the GTX70, the third model in the series and the most compact in the range to date.

“Under our slogan of, “We don’t celebrate history. We make it”, we continue to invest not only in beauty and performance, but also in sustainability and the onboard experience: more efficient propulsion systems, optimised hulls, innovative materials. Owning a Pershing, helming a Pershing and living on a Pershing will always be one of the most thrilling and most incredible experiences ever. Owning a Pershing is cruising in the fast lane.”

Peak performance

Formula One driver George Russell explains how trading circuits for seascapes aboard his Pershing 6X helps his racing life.

What drew you to the idea of owning a yacht?

With boats in general, you have this sense of privacy. You’re escaping; you can choose to be as close or as far away from the mainland as you wish. You can take that privacy when you need it or be right in the centre of the action in some cool destinations. I’m still fairly new to the yacht ownership thing, but at the time I thought: “Screw it, it’s going to be an adventure.” So far, I’m really happy.

Where do you plan to explore with the yacht?

I live in Monaco, so the idea is to keep the boat in Port Hercule and stay in the South of France. Maybe I’ll pop over to Italy, perhaps even down to Corsica. At 40 knots, you can get down to the north or northwest of Corsica in two to three hours. I don’t tend to have days on and off", which is why it’s my intention to keep it based around Monaco, where I can fly down to Cannes, Saint-Tropez, as well as the beautiful Lérins Islands just outside Cannes. That’s the rough idea.

Can you share how you became involved with the Ferretti Group and why Pershing felt like the right fit?

I went to the Ferretti Group event in Monaco last September because I wanted to see Robbie Williams. I didn’t know Alberto Galassi too well at the time, but having been part of that evening and obviously knowing Charles Leclerc very well [Leclerc owned a 14.9-metre Riva 48 Dolceriva before upgrading to a 25.9-metre Riva 82 Diva], and knowing his experiences with the Group, I knew I wanted to be part of this family and that these were the people I wanted to be involved with.

Pershing just sort of felt like the right fit for me, especially at my age. I like the speed side of it, you know – it’s a performance yacht, which isn’t what everybody wants from a yacht, but my life is fast paced. I wanted a yacht that could get me from A to B quickly and finding out that the Pershing 6X has a 40-knot cruising speed was just insane.

You’ve mentioned how Mondays can be emotionally challenging. Can you explain why, and how having your own yacht contributes to your well-being and performance?

Within F1 driver circles, we refer to a Monday as the emotional hangover. It doesn’t matter if you’ve won the day before or if you’ve had a terrible day; you still have this emotional hangover on a Monday because with success, you’re on such a high, you’ve celebrated with your team and then you’re back home; the win is history, and it’s behind you. If you’ve had a terrible day on a Sunday, it hangs over with you on a Monday because you’re thinking about it and you’re going over what went wrong, and what you could have done better. So, either way, Mondays are a difficult day for us. I think it’s another reason why I bit the bullet and wanted to buy a Pershing, because I felt it could actually aid my performance. It’s a place that makes me happy.

Design through the ages

For four decades, Pershing has defined Italian yacht design, where power meets poetry and form follows adrenaline. It has challenged convention, blending sculptural styling with relentless performance.

Pershing is, and always has been, a design innovator. Each model embodies an unmistakable style that speaks of sleek, aggressive lines and sporty showmanship. Named after the US Pershing, a supersonic ballistic missile, the brand has represented accuracy and technological sophistication from the outset, inspiring new style trends with a functional yet irresistible slant.

Examples of its design pedigree include the curved, large monolithic windows and pillar-free windscreen found aboard the Pershing 70, which delivered clearer visibility and lighter interiors. The model’s famed Pershing side wings, used to channel air flow for a smoother ride, have endured the ages to become a signature feature.

Then there’s the brand’s more frivolous use of colour that, when applied with daring panache, gave birth to a lasting trend, as per the Pershing 88’s signature silver hull unveiled at the Festival de la Plaisance in the Port of Cannes in 2000. “The silver colour came from the owner’s request to match his boat with his car,” says Nada Serafini, Pershing’s head of sales. “It was pretty unusual at the time to move away from a traditional blue paint job, but silver then became our trademark.”

Often described as the Ferrari of the seas, a Pershing is “a boat to be remembered”, according to Alberto Galassi, Ferretti Group CEO. “That’s why it’s the best performing brand in the Ferretti Group.” It’s no small change that serial superyacht owner Piero Ferrari, now honorary chairman of Ferretti Group and its product strategy committee, chose a Pershing 45 as his first ever yacht.

Launched in 1985 bearing the sculpted penmanship of naval architect Fulvio De Simoni, the Pershing 45 exploded onto the yachting scene with power and poise. It was the first yacht to be fitted with a hydraulic gangway – a feature subsequently installed on all Pershing yachts, not to mention adopted by most other boatbuilders – and its rare combination of comfort and speed became the cornerstone of Pershing’s DNA.

As chief designer, stylist and brand shaper, De Simoni has served as the creative force behind the brand’s evolution, not just designing Pershings, but defining them. As Edi Oriolo, the owner of a Pershing 70, puts it: “Pershing for me means standing out from the crowd. It makes you feel like a star, even when you’re alone anchored in a bay.”

Central to the allure is the balance between volume and liveability, pulled together in a sexy exterior design. It’s a key feature that pushed the Pershing 50 to become the brand’s best-seller of all time. Large enough at 15 metres to feel substantial, it also fed into the distinctive aesthetic of long foredecks, those dynamic side wings and bold window lines that convey motion even at rest. Or as designer Michelangelo Vallicelli describes it, “dock speed”.

“At the core of Pershing’s soul sits performance. Not necessarily speed, but the idea of movement,” he says. “A boat is never a static object, and that’s something you always have to convey when designing the exterior.”

De Simoni laid the foundations for the company’s design blueprint in the 1990s with the Pershing 54, which saw a transition from shaft line transmissions to surface-piercing propeller systems delivering impressive manoeuvrability. Nicknamed the “snowboard of the sea”, the Pershing 54 set the tone for a move into larger models. As the brand entered the 21 century, its automotive lines were scaled up into larger composite and aluminium superyachts, namely the Pershing 108, 82 and 74.

Then came Vallicelli Design, led by founder Andrea Vallicelli and supported by his son Michelangelo, who helped reinterpret the brand for the 21st century. The Italian studio brought a polished touch underpinned by its naval architectural heritage and expertise within sailing yacht design. “Our background in sailing yacht design has helped to optimise the brand’s interior space planning,” says Michelangelo. “Despite sailing yachts and motor yachts being aesthetically and functionally completely different, when you design a beautiful boat that goes fast, it’s a similar creative exercise.”

The development of Pershing interiors has seen adaptations made to suit owners’ ever-changing lifestyles. It was first witnessed aboard the Pershing 72, which marked the start of an enduring partnership with Poltrona Frau. The prestigious Italian leather and furniture brand homed in on decor and detail, from wall coverings to headboards, most notably introducing a stylistic grey leather pilot seat that has become a mainstay across much of the Pershing range.

The 72 also saw the debut of the brand’s signature concealed sliding glass door created in partnership with Besenzoni. When open, it creates a single space that seamlessly links the helm to the aft deck. This model was later evolved to include two large side wings that emerge from the superstructure to become part of the gunwale, giving the boat a striking appearance and further increasing the liveability of the cockpit.

Over the course of 40 years, Pershing has built out its uniquely successful DNA to produce models that not only meet but also anticipate owners’ needs. The 2019 launch of the Pershing 140, the builder’s largest model to date and its first aluminium-hulled boat, is a case in point. At 43 metres, it pushed the pocket rocket builder into superyacht territory. It also broke ground as the first Pershing with a raised wheelhouse connected directly to the sundeck, the first with a dedicated owner’s area on the main deck and the first to feature a beach area that opens on three sides.

Most recently, it’s the development of two model ranges – Generation X and GTX – that confirm the Italian builder’s commitment to major design innovations continuing apace. While the aerodynamic aggressive lines of the early Pershing models remain a mainstay (the Generation X series features wide and muscular air intakes borrowed from the sleek style of racing cars), it’s the use of ultra-lightweight materials, such as composites across the hull, superstructure and furniture, paired with eye-watering speeds of up to 50 knots that make Generation X one of the most technologically advanced and stylistically unified ranges. Each model in the X family scales the same design language, from the compact 5X to the commanding 9X.

“Pershing isn’t just a brand, it’s a status symbol with eye-catching lines and unmistakable style,” says Michele Giacometti, owner of a Pershing 9X. “A synonym of design, elegance, sportiness and attention to detail, as well as of pure adrenaline for lovers of speed.”

For those looking for more crossover appeal, the GTX series serves comfort and capability on a platter. Vallicelli’s design influence is most evident in the GTX80, where he helped define Pershing’s “sport utility yacht” category. “Introducing larger interior volume in the lower deck of a superfast yacht was not an easy task,” says Michelangelo. “But what truly helped us to achieve that goal was the development of the main deck area.”

The main deck, a point of interest throughout the range, extends two levels, the first increasing contact with the sea, the second for socialising and entertainment. “It’s a hybrid full beam, where you have a very large interior beam in the main salon and a larger, more flexible cockpit, yet retain a little exterior space for sidewalks, allowing the crew to access the bow,” he adds.

This clever integration of space is heightened on the GTX70, the newest and smallest in the GTX line. It gives superyacht vibes on a self-piloting yacht with a wheelhouse that’s fully integrated into the main saloon. Fold-down bulwarks enlarge the beach club area when at anchor and a vertically sliding glass partition separates the aft deck seating area from the interior bar and galley.

“It’s a smaller boat, but the essential elements are moulded together in such a way that you don’t feel as though you lose any space,” he says. “If anything, thanks to the asymmetrical layout, the GTX70 feels even more generous in lounge space compared to the larger models.”

Vallicelli’s role has been to keep evolving the Pershing spirit without breaking from its rich heritage, adapting its formative language for a new generation of more lifestyle-orientated yachts and yacht owners. It’s an evolution that Giordano Pellacani, Ferretti Group’s chief commercial officer, believes will endure long into the future.

“Pershing will undoubtedly continue to innovate, to listen to the needs of its clients – especially looking toward the future,” Pellacani says. “We want to amaze our clients, to earn their applause, to be part of those moments of happiness that few other brands and products in the world can give.”

A life in Pershing

Few embody Pershing’s pulse like Nada Serafini, whose 35-year legacy as head of sales is one of loyalty, ambition and performance.

What does it take to become a “lifer”? To devote 35 years to a company, or in Nada Serafini’s case, a brand, with an unrelenting pursuit of excellence. It requires dedication, purpose and an unshakable belief in an “adrenaline-inducing product”. At Pershing, it’s also about a deeply rewarding sense of community.

“I was just 19 years old when I started at Pershing in 1991, incapable of doing anything professionally because I arrived fresh from university,” she says. Forced to find a job fast, the languages graduate went knocking on the doors of boatyards in Italy’s Marche region, starting in Bellocchi and winding her way along to the nearby town of Mondolfo. Her search ended at the gates of Pershing, where founders Tilli Antonelli, Fausto Filippetti and Giuliano Onori recognised her talent and ushered her into the fold.

“I wasn’t looking for something in the marine industry – I didn’t know a bow from a stern, but I embraced the opportunity because I never had time to be bored,” she says. “It’s why I’ve stayed so long. The company’s growth and drive have always kept me engaged.”

As the only employee in a team of 35 with a skill for foreign languages (she speaks English, French, German and Spanish in addition to her native Italian), they assigned her a range of tasks that broadened her business understanding.

“One day I might be buying a muffler or marine exhaust in the States, the next writing to a customer in Greece.” As she rose through the ranks, they hired people in her wake, from receptionists and boat show executives to advertising and communications managers. “Finally, I’d proven myself enough to be made responsible for the sales o!ce, followed by area manager for part of Europe, which was later joined by the States,” she says. She views her appointment as head of sales for Pershing and Itama as “the defining moment” of her career.

“The biggest attraction has always been the product. Pershings are future-orientated boats that give you a sense of looking ahead,” she says. It’s also a highly technical brand with loyal clients who like to be deeply involved. “They demand expertise and knowledge from us, and that’s really fuelled my growth, even becoming one of my personality traits, to always strive for the next challenge.”

The Pershing philosophy to never give up has, for Serafini, been there from the start. “In the early years, we struggled to make the founders understand that the word ‘impossible’ even exists,” she says. “It was not for them, because they were busy building a brand, so together, with a lot of hard work as a team, we have all contributed in some way to Pershing’s evolutionary success.”

Since the launch of the Pershing 45 in 1985, the company has cemented its desire to push beyond, from the introduction of surface drives on the Pershing 72, to the pioneering use of hydrojets coupled with a gas turbine on the Pershing 115. It’s a mindset that attracts a certain type of owner – one who seeks innovation matched with a strong sense of belonging.

“Anyone who approaches Pershing today is looking for something distinct,” Serafini says. “They want recognition and to be part of something groundbreaking. And they want to be linked to a community of risk takers, the first ones to experience a new product.”

It’s this sense of family and camaraderie that bubbled to the surface during the three-day 40th anniversary celebration this year in Capri. Set against the island’s famed Faraglioni rocks in the Gulf of Naples, Pershing owners took to the waters aboard their 6Xs, 7Xs and 8Xs, famous for their sporty styling and extraordinary performance, alongside the builder’s recent range of Sport Utility Yachts, the Pershing GTX116 and Pershing GTX70.

“I lived that experience in Capri this July, travelling with a fleet of 10 owners and feeling that strong sense of a Pershing community,” she says. “It’s a special thrill working in a brand where the main point of contact isn’t the captain or surveyor, but the yacht owner themself, who I learn so much from.

“Buying a Pershing is an arrival for our owners,” she adds. “Our clients are the makers of their own fortune; it’s not inherited wealth. So, to acquire a boat with that edge of exclusivity, it’s like saying, ‘I made it, now I have my Pershing.’ That’s something I hear a lot.”

Serafini still feels that adrenaline handing over a new Pershing to the owner. “When they arrive with their family, and the boat is dressed with flowers and champagne, it’s like you’re delivering a baby to the world. That moment still feels like a new sensation. Every time.”

Meet the fleet

If you’ve pictured yourself at the helm of your own Pershing but need a steer, here’s a sneak preview of a few of the models for the coming year and beyond.

7X

Designed for cruising, weekending and all-round fun, the 7X is a strong competitor on the 20-metre-plus market. The 21.11-metre has a displacement of just 35 tonnes to deliver a significant reduction in fuel consumption. The next model is currently in build for a 2026 delivery.

8X

Visually striking with a streamlined silver hull and offering close to 50 knots, the 8X is for those looking to balance the three “S’s”: size, speed and superyacht comfort. It has a full-beam owner’s suite and three deck lounges, including a bright saloon with a sunroof. Built to order with the option for customisation.

9X

The largest of the X Generation range is also one of the most prolific, with 26 models delivered to date. The 28-metre comfortably maintains a cruising speed of 38 knots thanks to twin 2,600hp MTU 16V 2000 M96L engines, with a standard range of 380 nautical miles. The next model is currently in build for a 2026 delivery.

GTX70

As the newest Pershing to hit the market this year, with the first hull splashing in March – not to mention the most compact in the GTX series – this 21.76-metre yacht speaks to a new era of the Pershing lifestyle, with fold-down side terraces, a three-level lifting beach platform and an aft galley that connects the indoor and outdoor areas. Built to order with the option for customisation.

GTX116

The GTX116 was introduced in 2023 as the GTX flagship, focusing on liveability, elegant styling and fun on deck. As the largest in the Sport Utility Yacht range, the 35 metre’s layout connects interior and exterior spaces fluidly, with stairways built into the superstructure. The next model is currently in build for delivery in 2026.

Pershing 140

The all-aluminium Pershing 140, born from a collaboration between Fulvio de Simoni and Ferretti Group’s Strategic Product Committee led by Piero Ferrari, is the largest model in the Pershing portfolio. Stretching 43 metres, it was the first Pershing to be designed with a raised helm station directly connected to the sundeck. Hull number five is under construction, with delivery slated for 2026.

To find out more information about Pershing, get in touch with the shipyard directly.

Sponsored content created for Pershing