Protagonist riva

PROTAGONIST THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF FERRETTI GROUP N°104 VOL. 4

Riva 88’ Florida Ferretti Yachts 650 Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430 CRN Conero and Superconero Ducal, Italian hand-crafted shoes

R ER E A DING R I VA A SPECIAL DAY: XU XINYU MEETS CARLO RIVA

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his March, I received the invitation from Mr. Carlo Riva. On March 18th we met in his office where we started talking about the brand. Then, the topics naturally extended to future partnerships, management, the entrepreneurial Riva’s history, design and innovation in production, the extension of the brand as well as the cultural communication between the East and the West.

We had a joyful and pleasant afternoon much more mea ning f u l to me to have a deeper understanding of Riva compared to my first feeling to the brand two years ago.

The first time I knew Riva, I immediately came to the conclusion that, there must be a lot of legendary stories behind the worldwide famous brand, and Riva’s glory must be closely linked to its founder and descendants.

This could be seen from Riva founder’s character, attitude and his pursuit of career. Today Riva means luxury, elegance, passion and life.

More than a year has been passed, since our investment into Ferretti Group.

During this period, I do have made several plans to visit Riva’s family, with a view to explore the true essence of this brand. But not until this March we had such a chance to meet each other.

At the age of 92 years old, Mr. Carlo Riva struck me for being a hale, hearty and quick thinking man. I especia lly admired his astonishing memory in telling the history of the brand.

For this old man, words were not necessary to explain what his pursuit was, where his persistence was heading to and how his own mission could be described. His experience just exactly generated the answers.

I still remember very clearly when, during a business trip to Hong Kong in winter 2012, a columnist about luxury products from Wall Street Journal asked me what I thought about Riva.

Very excited, I replied that Riva was the dream for every yacht fan; owning it makes you “the special one” in the world. R iva means art, technology and living.

I also remember when two years ago, my Chinese investment team visited Riva shipyard in Sarnico for the routine DD. I was deeply attracted by the shipyard layout near the mountain and by the river, as well as the busy production line.

We not ic ed t hat ma ny of t he product ion processes were kept following the traditional craft and a lot of the components were handmade by the brilliant Riva staff.

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The excellent quality of the products could be traced to their historic origin.

The rich inspiration of designing, together with the soul seeking for greater perfection of manufacturing, turned the whole shipyard into an art studio.

I tended to consider it a s a n ha ndcra f ted sculpture, rather than yacht producing only.

Under the current environment of global and information-based economy, Riva, together with its full enthusiasm, is now taking a course of its new development.

One year ago, as the industrial investor of the brand, we reminded the management team, that, if Ferretti wanted to be again the world no.1, it was imperative to contemplate the faults leading to today’s unfavorable situation.

Meanwhile, we have to include Riva as the vital group asset to manage, developing measures that may improve the brand content, increasing the input into production R&D and innovation, and developing the extension of the brand and so on.

Today, these were turning into reality.

When hearing of this, Mr. Riva was too excited to stay with his seat, and asked his secretary to fetch lots of historical materials about morethan-one-hundred-year Riva’s history, including some component prototypes of that times.

He stated his desire to offer everything he has for the brand.

Mr. Carlo Riva wanted to know why the Chinese automotive Weichai Group decided to invest in yacht industry, hence his care about our longterm strategy of investment was quite reasonable, if he might hear of some adverse stories about Chinese investments.

We explained our development plan and our global strategy of the recent years.

At times, Mr. Riva stopped me to ask about enterprise management, and he was also very interested in the story of the Chairman Tan Xuguang, while he wrote down the English spelling of Weichai and Chairman Tan, and he was, I guessed, supposed to find his own answers later on the internet. I really admired his idea of management.

As founder of the first European systematic organization of after sa les ser vice, he still persisted in his idea of giving customers the white-glove treatment, idea from which we will still benefit.

During our conversation, we talked about how Weichai Group, with about 60,000 employees and more than 100 companies all over the world, could make objective and right management decisions.

This is possible thanks to Weichai manager team with a responsible attitude, able to understand employees and the market, with new ideas that join the social reforms.

The Chairman required every manager being an example with his responsibility of hard work towards rea l results. Mr. Carlo R iva understood our operation method. Then, we shared our desire to work together in order to build a successful model of cooperation between Italian and Chinese companies. After leaving the birthplace of Riva and recalling the conversation with Mr. Carlo Riva, the thing that impressed me the most is the intrinsic value of this centuryold brand.

Quality and service are the core of this centuryold brand, the intrinsic value of the quality of the excellent productions stand out from the brand, while the satisfying and attentive service are the surplus value to it.

“Superior quality, winning team”.

A superior quality will create competitiveness, a nd qua lit y is d irect propor tiona l to competitiveness. If the company is not able to win the trust of customers in terms of quality and service, it will lose the material basis of competitiveness.

Let’s welcome all together the new Riva’s era.

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NEWS R I VA INTEGR ATION AND SY NERGY BETWEEN BUSINESS TEA MS, TO GROW TOGETHER

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fter the great investment in order to relaunch Ferretti Group and allowing the company returning to be the first global leader in luxury Made in Italy boating industry, our shareholder Weichai is still directly supporting the sales network of the Group with a continuous communication with its dealers (below, a picture of the Vice President Xu Xinyu with the historic Riva dealer Cesare Casarola). Being an industrial and not a financial investor, Weichai cares about the strengthening and development of the Group in all its aspects, from the design to the production, till the Sales & Marketing. From 2012, Weichai also created a permanent team of experts based in the Italian offices of the Group, in order to support the integration between the shareholder and the company, becoming a sort of a bridge between company’s need and Chinese resources. More than supporting the Group, the team studies every new business chance and market developments, with a

particular focus on the rich Chinese market which is becoming even more important for Made in Italy luxury sector, particularly for boating industry.

As regards the integration and the constant support, the experts chosen by Weichai embody the best Chinese managerial skills that will be useful to help the managers of the Group to enter the Chinese market. All the activities of Weichai team in Italy are daily followed by the Vice President of the Group, Xu Xinyu, who also supervised the other investments of Weichai in Europe in recent years, for a total value of almost 2 billion euros. In this phase the team is focusing the attention analysing Riva brand, starting from its history and looking to the future. Moreover, Weichai decided for new investments in R&D and the promotion of design and marketing activities.

Among the next initiatives, there is the opening of the new showroom in Sarnico. As part of the big Weichai family, we believe Ferretti Group will regain its position as a global leader.

THE MY TH PROTAGONIST IN COURCHEV EL

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n March 5 th 2014, the photographic exhibition “Women and Riva” took place at the hotel “Les Airelles” of Courchevel, in the heart of the famous ski resort “Trois Vallée”.

A large number of customers and guests attended the gala evening planned by Monaco Boat Service (Riva exclusive French and Monaco dealer). Mrs Lia Riva and the staff of Riva - Ferretti Group welcomed the guests and showed the whole boats’ range, especially the new flagship: the 122’ Mythos. The decorations were in Riva style, with tables set with aquamarine devorée silk table-clothes with a design tribute to sea waves, the centrepieces were scale models of 46

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Aquarama and Aquariva boats surrounded by white candles; at last, brown leather underplates with Riva di Conticelli logo. Also the menu was in Riva style, evoking the pictures of the photographic exhibition “Women and Riva”, shown together with a real Riva

Iseo boat. Both have been lit for the entire week, here displayed in the Haute-Savoie. During the opening evening, it took place a fashion show with models wearing Vhernier jewelries, some of them freely inspired by the traditional style of the brand.

INAUGURATION OF ULTRAMAR YAT

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he 20th of March 2014 will be remembered as a landmark date in the yachting market in Turkey. Ultramar Yat opened its new showroom with a gathering featuring several of the most influential figures in Turkish Society. Since the founding of Ultramar, Riva has placed itself as the choice of Turkey’s finest people. Over 200 selected guests came to admire the new office, located in one of Istanbul’s most prestigious and exclusive locations: Suzer Plaza.

“As I mentioned before, normally we do not make architectural designs. But the founder and the current partner of Ultramar, Nihan Ertürk de Pessôa-Pardellas, and her husband, Carlos Alberto de Pessôa-Pardellas, are our friends. When Carlos approached us to design the Office, we could not say no. Our main challenge was to convey the Riva experience in the heart of one of the world’s premier cities. We are thrilled with the result”, said Sergio Beretta.

Ultramar Yat, established by Nihan Ertürk de Pessôa-Pardellas and the Suzer Group, one of the largest holdings in the region, has carried out the first chapter of its mission which is to provide the Turkish clients with a prime service that encompasses excellence in all fields of the yachting industry. “It is pleasing us to see that our guests share our excitement. On this fascinating night, we are also celebrating our partnership with Suzer Group. We will continue to strengthen our presence together and take many steps which will result in events like this”, added Nihan Ertürk de Pessôa-Pardellas.

Baran Süzer said that they have signed a prestigious partnership agreement with Ultramar and also added: “Tonight it is possible to see the dynamism that Ultramar contributes to our group. I want to thank you to all guests for attending this event”.

Amongst the Ferretti Group representatives were Mario Chessa, Ferretti Group EMEA Regional Director and Paola Procopio, Riva EMEA Sales

Manager. However, the star of the night could not be any other than the Riva Aquariva. The boat, which belongs to a historical Riva client, shall be presented in front of the Office until the summer, enabling the Turkish audience to admire her magnificence first hand. “In Istanbul, that stands second to none, as far as beauty and significance, Riva Aquariva finds a natural habitat”, concluded Paola Procopio.

THE RIVA LAMP IS BORN

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iva means finest craftsmanship, undisputed quality and innovation. A history of success stretching over more than 170 years. Design has always been a reason of success and pride. So, the brand has decided to undertake a new adventure, exploring different sectors such as that of ‘home experience’, producing innovative design products.

In April, During the “Salone del Mobile” 2014 at the Larusmiani concept boutique, took place the world première of the table lamp inspired by the classic “searching light” of 1960s boats, such as the Aquarama, Tritone and Ariston models and which is now present on the famous motorboat Aquariva.

More than the “searching light” itself, the stem and the base also clearly recall the elegance and sobriety of Riva boats: the stem is available in mambo - the fabric used for the upholstery - or in mahogany, two characteristic materials used on the vessels, while the base, made of three overlaid sections of steel, recalls the famous bow of the Aquarama and Aquariva motorboats, and once opened it recalls a boat’s propeller.

And it is not a coincidence that the “searching light” lamp makes its debut during the 2014 edition of the “Salone del Mobile”, a festival of design and point of reference for the whole world as regards the home furnishing sector.

The lamp can be bought online: www.riva-yacht.com.

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