WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW YACHT GENERATION - BMW Group DesignworksUSA and Belgian Yacht Builder Zeydon present the Performance Cruiser Z60 at the Mediterranean Scenes

Munich. Fascinating design, superior performance and maximum comfort are the
hallmarks of a new generation of offshore yachts that Belgian boat builder
Zeydon will be presenting in France and Italy this fall. In spring 2004, when
the company developed its first yacht, the Zeydon Z60, the Belgian specialist
established a long-term, close cooperation with a design partner that has been
renowned for its emotional and innovative premium design: BMW Group
DesignworksUSA. The independent design subsidiary of the BMW Group has been
involved in automotive as well as other cross-segmental design projects from a
variety of different industries. The global studio was subsequently
commissioned to bring to life Zeydon's vision of establishing a completely new
category of performance-oriented luxury yachts.

Working in close cooperation with Zeydon, BMW Group DesignworksUSA was required
to develop an all-out offshore yacht of the 60-foot class that was to combine
the sailing potential of a performance offshore yacht with the substantial
equipment range and unaffected elegance of a modern luxury cruiser. First and
foremost, the design was to directly express this innovative combination of
attributes as the yacht's characteristic feature. In order to ensure that the
design and product development emerged from a virtually organic process, the
design studio was involved already in the early conception stage and played a
major role in the entire development process. The result is an extraordinary
yacht of high design quality, which was presented by both partners at the
scenes of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez from 30 September through 4 October and at
the Yachtclub Italiano during the Genova Boat Show until 12 October.

Perfect match: Zeydon and BMW Group DesignworksUSA.
Zeydon is an innovative newcomer among European shipyards. Its founders, Ben
Van Hool and David Van Nieuwenhove, have fitted the young company with their
comprehensive pool of experiences from a related mobility segment. Zeydon is
distinguished by a progressive approach to yachting applications that is second
to none in the industry. Accordingly, it has become an integral part of
Zeydon's corporate philosophy to take a new approach to conventional
assumptions and established construction and production principles and to
develop these further. As part of this strategy, the team will systematically
weigh up all potential possibilities for transferring knowledge from related
mobility segments to the yachting application at hand. Therefore, BMW Group
DesignworksUSA with its design principle of "cross-fertilization" was an
obvious and appropriate partner.

The studio's specific approach was the perfect complement to Zeydon's
philosophy of idea transfers from other mobility segments to yachting
applications. The principle of "cross fertilization" refers to the process of
cross-industry knowledge transfer. "Our great strength lies in the fact that
for decades we have been working for top clients in a great variety of
industries and over all this time we have always been closely linked to the BMW
Group", says Laurenz Schaffer, Head of the Munich-based European office of BMW
Group DesignworksUSA. And continues: "Therefore we have a comprehensive and
cross-industrial understanding of mobility which enables us to transfer
knowledge and experience from the automobile area into other industries. While
doing so, our designers get inspired and experienced through the work for an
interesting array of premium brands and products and effectively enable
themselves to infuse the design studios of the three BMW Group brands from the
outside with their inspirational thinking."

The special ability of developing tailor-made design concepts in this way made
BMW Group DesignworksUSA the perfect partner for Zeydon and the development of
the extraordinary Z60. "Choosing the right design partner was one of the most
crucial decisions we had to make over the past years. Obviously, we were well
aware of the fact that the design of the first yacht would also determine the
whole identity of the new Zeydon shipyard", says Ben van Hool, Zeydon's
founder.

Zeydon design: Character all down the line.
The design of the Zeydon Z60 yacht expresses the extraordinary boatbuilding
concept in a striking, elegant and direct manner. The hydrodynamics and the
hull design were developed in close cooperation with yacht and boat designer
Peter Bosgraaf. Even below the waterline, the Zeydon presents its perfect
synthesis of performance and aesthetics. The styling of the hull and the
superstructures convey pure dynamics and exhibit maximum design perfection in
every detail of the boatbuilding design: the exterior of the Z60 presents
regatta-oriented functionality, outstanding seaworthiness and a generously
designed deck area. The interior surprises with an equipment range that is
commonly associated with much larger yachts and impresses the beholder with the
systematic deployment of high-grade materials and design with a focus on
precision and perfect functionality right down to the smallest detail. This
approach visibly dissolves the dualism of performance and comfort that has been
prevalent in the boatbuilding segment and seamlessly merges both concepts, thus
creating a convincing overall design. Zeydon also required the Z60's design to
create conspicuous, individual character features, which were to set the yacht
clearly apart from the competition and ensure that it could invariably be
identified as a Zeydon. Therefore, the yacht received its unique, prominent
character lines.

"This project was a wonderful opportunity to launch a new brand in the
boatbuilding segment. Due to its innovative and emblematic form language, the
Z60 can always be identified as a Zeydon and as a yacht with premium
performance potential, even from a distance. Moreover, the Z60 is an impressive
example of the unique brand building potential of design", says Laurenz
Schaffer.

The WYSIWYG Performance: What You See Is What You Get.
Following the development of the design concept and the completion of a
prolonged, perfection-driven joint production phase, Zeydon finally set out to
prove the successful implementation of all aspired performance characteristics
at competitive level when the yacht was presented offshore in July 2008: in all
tests conducted so far, the Zeydon Z60 has performed flawlessly. On average,
the Z60 is faster than 13 knots, which is the speed calculated during model
tests, and achieves downwind speeds of up to 23 knots. The yacht tracks 23°
close to the wind at a reasonable speed of 10 knots and easily accelerates to
speeds of between 10 to 13 knots when driven by an engine.

The customer will discover a unique yacht with a spacious, comfortable and
relaxing feel and he or she will certainly experience the Z60 to be both easy
and sportsmanlike sailing, emanating reliability and luxury. It is no surprise
that Zeydon chose a breathtaking shade of blue for their first yacht to be
presented to the public this fall, a rather clear statement of the boat
builder's focus on innovation and the aspiration to bring a fresh breeze to the
yachting segment. "Zeydon is different - we chose the color blue because it
perfectly communicates the characteristics that determine our corporate
identity: progressiveness, originality, courage, strict authenticity and
infinite emotion", van Hool explains.Zeydon has announced its plans to build
between five and eight yachts every year.

Zeydon - Up-and-coming Belgian yacht yard.
Zeydon is a Belgian boat builder, building semi-custom luxury sailing yachts,
with a unique design ranging from 60 to 100 foot. Zeydon was established in
2004 in Antwerp, Belgium and is proud to finally put Antwerp, a world port and
diamond centre and a city of fashion designers onto the world map of high
quality and luxury sailing yacht builders. Zeydon was founded by transportation
expert Ben van Hool who together with his team developed a highly distinctive
company vision about a contemporary relevant and advanced state-of-the-art
sailing yacht.

BMW Group DesignworksUSA: Design perfection beyond the spotlight.
BMW Group DesignworksUSA is a subsidiary of BMW Group. Founded in 1972 in L.A.,
the center of the vibrant Californian lifestyle and design industry, the
studio, then called "Designworks USA", implemented its first projects for BMW
Group as early as the 1980s. Even during its starting years, the portfolio of
the design studio featured top brands such as Nokia or HP. The studio has
always been renowned for its fascinating mixture of strategic competence,
sensitive intuition and unlimited creativity and ultimately convinced Zeydon
with its passionate designs.

Meanwhile, the company, which was taken over by BMW Group in 1995, operates
three studios in Europe, the US and Asia and acts both as a source of
inspiration for individual BMW Group brand design studios and as an innovative
driving force for a variety of renowned customers from different segments such
as IT and consumer electronics, the aerospace, medical, environmental,
lifestyle and sports industry. While the design studio inspires BMW Group
design, it also brings to bear the experience and insights gained during its
work for customers from the complex and visionary automotive industry on design
projects for customers from other industrial segments.

The main ingredient of the agency's recipe for success is the ability to
develop design concepts that express the individual, unmistakable identity of
any specific brand by defining a self-contained design language and translating
the sum total of all brand facets into a strong, design-driven product
experience. The design identity of the Zeydon brand is an impressive and
successful example of this approach.