Many things have changed since 2006; some have been positive – some, well, not so much. Back in 2006 Europe and America sweltered in an unprecedented heatwave over the summer months, a UK government crossed its fingers and hoped that it could get in for an unprecedented fourth term, an ex Russian KGB man died after drinking tea laced with Polonuim. These things all sound familiar and credible scenarios. Meanwhile, the BBC aired a documentary entitled The Queen by Rolf in which Rolf Harris painted a portrait of the Queen. This really happened and, definitively, it will never happen again. Times have changed – to some extent.
Yet one thing that didn’t change was Elan’s Impression 434. This practical, spacious cruiser has been dutifully plying the seas in ever increasing numbers ever since 2006. When Lehman brothers chose to implode in 2008, this boat sailed on. When Britain decided to leave the EU in 2016, the yacht cruised onward unperturbed. That is until now. All good things must come to an end and the 434 – renamed the Impression 45.1 has finished its production cycle after 17 years and 600 boats.
So where to go from here for the Slovenian boatbuilders? Well, back to the drawing board of Rob Humphreys, its go Beneteau or Bavaria, yet it produces enough boats every year to be well beyond a bespoke boatbuilder of semi custom projects. The company has therefore paid careful attention to its positioning in the market; its boats need to be a bit different and individual without being cripplingly overpriced. In recent years the company made a smart move by both sticking with Rob Humphreys for the design but also working with first Studio F.A Porsche for the styling of the Elan GT6 and then Pininfarina on the Elan E6. This gave both boats a certain ‘X’ factor that definitely helped them stand out from the crowd.
