Horizon Yachts Open House 2026: Four Debuts in Taiwan
A visit to Horizon Yachts’ Taiwan facilities offered an exclusive first look at four groundbreaking new models.
By Lori Capullo
Humidity hangs thick over Kaohsiung Harbour in early March, the kind of warmth that clings to skin and steel in much the same way. Here, at Horizon Yachts’ sprawling headquarters in southern Taiwan, we converged for the Horizon Yachts 2026 Open House and VIP Media Event, held March 4–6. The three-day ritual now ranks among the industry’s most closely watched, and the excitement among everyone invited was palpable.
This invitation into the shipyard’s inner workings, its design philosophy, and the vision driving one of the world’s most prolific luxury builders delivered a very different experience than a boat show. Owners, dealers, designers, and press from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia moved through the grounds not as spectators but as guests, with a level of access boat shows simply don’t offer.
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What most distinctly separates an open house from an ordinary launch event is what happens after the ribbon-cutting: Guests spent equal time in work boots and cocktail attire. The tour wound through the Horizon Shipyard, Vision Shipyard, Premier Shipyard & Refit Centre, Atech Composites, and Horizon City Marina, and each stop revealed another layer of how these yachts come together.
The theme, “Reimagined,” wasn’t just branding. Across four world-premiere yachts and a shipyard tour that drew back the curtain on Horizon’s manufacturing muscle, the company made its case: The future of luxury yachting isn’t about scale for its own sake. It’s about how owners live aboard.
Four Yachts, Four Philosophies
The FD110 Tri-Deck set the tone. At 112 feet LOA, it ranks among the largest models ever to emerge from Horizon’s Fast Displacement Series, and Horizon built it with the American market squarely in mind. Step below, and the interior speaks in a hushed palette of washed white oak, with five staterooms across a layout designed for entertaining as much as passagemaking.
On the aft deck, a table set for 10 guests and a fully integrated entertainment system make the yacht’s intent plain: This is a vessel built for gathering, not just for going places.
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Horizon FD100 Skyline
If the FD110 speaks to American sensibilities, Horizon conceived the FD100 Skyline for an entirely different owner—one cruising the vast waters off Australia. Dutch designer Cor D. Rover brought a warmer, more architectural hand to the interior, layering rich koto wood against curved lines and indirect lighting that softens the space.
Up in the skylounge, a heated Jacuzzi (“What do you think about that?” the designer asked me with a grin as I gawked) and a teppanyaki station hint at a yacht built for weeks at sea: long-range, generously stowed, and tailored down to the smallest detail for its future owner.
Horizon ES88 “Elegance Sport”
Then came the yacht everyone on the dock seemed to be buzzing about: the ES88, and with it, Horizon’s new “Elegance Sport” concept. A repeat Horizon owner with a serious offshore-fishing habit commissioned the ES88, and the result resolves a contradiction gracefully.
A hydraulic swim platform, professional live-bait well, and custom rod storage speak to a boat that means business on the hunt—a lineage that runs back through builds such as the V77 CMY. Step inside, though, and the sportfishing edge softens into something unmistakably Horizon, with refined finishes and living spaces that carry the polish of a much larger vessel.
Horizon founder and CEO John Lu walked several of us through the ES88 personally, clearly enjoying the chance to point out details that don’t show up on a spec sheet, like custom tackle storage tucked into cabinetry that wouldn’t look out of place in a formal salon. It’s a tidy illustration of the shipyard’s broader philosophy: Build around the owner, not around a checklist.
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Lexus LY680
Rounding out the quartet was the Lexus LY680, the latest result of Horizon Group’s ongoing collaboration with Lexus Marine. Before stepping aboard, we lingered on the deck of the ES88, studying this unique specimen from across the water.
The Lexus seemed to belong to an entirely different species: a low-slung grand touring sports car translated into yacht form, sleek and undeniably sexy, yet restrained enough to exude quiet confidence rather than flash. Rendered in carbon fiber and carrying the automaker’s “L-finesse” design language onto the water, the LY680 trades ornamentation for precision, with an overall feel of more sanctuary than showpiece.
Life, On and Off the Water in Kaohsiung
By late afternoon, the shipyard gave way to the harbor. Guests boarded the newly premiered models for private cruises through Kaohsiung Harbour, trading factory-floor precision for the more visceral experience of feeling these yachts move through water. It was a wonderful reminder that, for all the engineering, this is still an industry built on the pleasure of being aboard.
Evenings in Kaohsiung unspooled at a different pace entirely. A gala brought together executives, owners, designers, and suppliers under one roof for live entertainment and fine dining. It felt less like a corporate function than a reunion of a community that clearly grew close over the years.
Between events, our hosts led guests on cultural excursions across southern Taiwan, from the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum to Kaohsiung’s waterfront districts—a pointed reminder that, for Horizon, ownership never begins and ends at the dock.
Threaded through all three days was a message the company seemed intent on making unmistakable: Horizon builds more than yachts. Plans for an expanded Horizon City Marina, complete with new hospitality facilities, position the shipyard as a destination in its own right—not simply a place where boats get built, but somewhere owners want to return.
That combination—technical ambition paired with genuine customization, engineering muscle paired with personal relationships—sets Horizon apart from builders chasing volume. Nothing unveiled in Kaohsiung followed a template. Every yacht, from the cavernous FD110 to the fishing-forward ES88, reflected a shipyard building around how people actually use their boats, not around how the market expects them to.
A Community, Reimagined
By departure day, the 2026 Open House had clearly accomplished something more layered than a typical product launch. Much like the 2024 Open House before it, the event offered a rare, unfiltered look at the craftsmanship behind one of Asia’s most respected yacht builders, and a reminder of how much relationship, not just engineering, sits behind every hull that leaves Kaohsiung.
The FD110 and FD100 spoke to Horizon’s range. The ES88 and Lexus LY680 spoke to its willingness to defy category. But the shipyard tours, the harbor cruises, the casual chats, and the shared meals (and cocktails) spoke loudest to what Horizon built over the years: not just yachts, but a global community that keeps coming back.
As the company continues its push into new markets, Kaohsiung made one thing clear: For Horizon, “bigger” was never really the point. Better, more personal, more thoughtfully reimagined—that’s the direction the shipyard is charting next.
Horizon FD110 Tri-Deck: Built for the American Market
Since our March visit, Horizon introduced a new FD110 designed expressly for the demands of the American market. The FD110 Tri-Deck is a custom build distinguished by its BV Part B Hull & Stability certification, which delivers the confidence, stability, and comfort owners want for extended cruising.
Inside, the yacht pays homage to the island-resort lifestyle with crown-cut white oak, silver-gray lacquer, and European Oak Rock flooring. Owners comparing sizes in the range can also see our Horizon FD80 review. Learn more at horizonyacht.com.
Horizon FD110 Hull 7 Specs
LOA | 112’ (34.14 m) |
LWL | 98’4” (29.99 m) |
Beam | 25’2” (7.68 m) |
Displacement (half load) | 370,110 lb. (167.88 t) |
Fuel capacity | 5,500 U.S. gal. (20,820 L) |
Freshwater capacity | 800 U.S. gal. (3,030 L) |
Engines | Twin CAT C32B, 2,400 hp |
Generators | Twin Kohler 55 kW (60 Hz) |
