- Founded
- 1987
- Headquarters
- Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Shipyard location
- Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Horizon Group yards)
- Official website
- https://horizonyacht.com/
Brand Overview
Taiwan's largest yacht builder, founded in 1987 by naval architect John Lu in Kaohsiung — semi-custom motor yachts from 62 to 150 feet across the FD (Fast Displacement), E, EP, P, RP, CC explorer, PC power-catamaran and V series, with some 900 yachts delivered and a place among the world's top ten builders.
Overview written fromhorizonyacht.comread 9/17/2026
YachtCodex Analysis
AI-generatedAn independent reading of this builder written by AI. Unlike the specifications and descriptions elsewhere on this page, it is interpretation rather than a sourced fact — treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
What this builder is
Horizon Yachts was founded in 1987 when John Lu, a National Taiwan Ocean University naval architect who had been chief engineer at Kha Shing, bought a foreclosed plot next to that yard in Kaohsiung and began building 40–60 ft yachts in hand-laid FRP for Europe and the United States, then the Elegance motor yacht series for the European market; in 2000 he formed the Horizon Group with separate divisions including Atech Composites, the hull builder that brought SCRIMP resin infusion and later a 6D infusion process to the yard, and in 2009 turned Horizon from an OEM into its own brand with offices in the United States and Australia and representation in Europe. Privately owned and debt-free through the 2008 crisis, the yard contracted Cor D. Rover in 2016 for the Fast Displacement series that pioneered the high-volume yacht, and Lu received the Boat Builder Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 with Horizon ranked among the world's top ten builders. The range today spans the FD75 to FD130, the E62, ES88, E90 and E98, the EP150 and P140 tri-decks, the RP110 and RP120 raised-pilothouse yachts, the CC80 Catamaran, CC110 and CC115 explorers, the PC60, PC65, PC68 and PC74 power catamarans and the V68; every model page prints LOA, waterline, beam, draft, engines, generators, displacement, fuel, water and guest and crew cabins, and lists the hulls delivered.
Who sails them
Horizon owners are motor-yacht clients who want a semi-custom build — their own layout, interior and equipment on a proven series hull — at a size from an owner-operated 62-footer to a crewed 150-foot tri-deck, and who value volume, long-range cruising and a yard that publishes every hull it has delivered; the PC power catamarans serve the American cruising market and the CC explorers long passages.
Signature models
The FD series is the brand's calling card — the Cor D. Rover Fast Displacement hulls from the FD75 to the FD130 that started the high-volume trend — while the EP150 is the flagship at 45 metres and the PC series made Horizon the leading builder of large power catamarans.
Strengths
Horizon is known for semi-custom flexibility at production scale, in-house composite construction by Atech with resin infusion, the volume of the Fast Displacement hulls, a range from 62 to 150 feet under one brand, dealers and service offices in the United States, Australia and Europe, and a published build record hull by hull.
Considerations
The site is a JavaScript front end — its About page carries no text without scripts, so the company facts come from the yard's own news posts — every specification is printed twice, displacement is quoted without a basis, engine power is per engine and sometimes in PS, the CC110 has two pages for two builds with different figures, the Lexus LY680 built by Horizon sits in the same model list, and the yachts are built to order in Taiwan with the lead times that implies.
Analysis generated 9/17/2026
Part of
Where they build
The building sites this yard publishes, in its own order.
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Horizon Group yards
Fleet at a Glance
Calculated from the models in the YachtCodex catalog, not from the builder's claims.
- Models in catalog
- 23
- Length range
- 18.78–45 m
- Hull forms
- Motor Monohull 18 · Motor Catamaran 5
- Cabins
- 2–8
Models by this brand
23 models
PC Series4
E Series4
FD Series7
CC Series3
EP Series1
History
Horizon Yacht was co-founded at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1987 by John Lu, Gong Shan Chiai and Cheng Shun Hui. Lu, a naval architect by training and the company's chief executive, set out to build the yachts his clients dreamed of, and over the years reinvested in the yards -- solving problems of production scale with specialised processes, and redeveloping each facility around its own speciality. The Horizon Group grew out of that as the organisation tying four shipyards together: Horizon Yacht, Atech Composites, Vision Yachts and Premier Yacht, so that ideas and resources pass between them. A fifth was added later, the Horizon City Marina, the first facility in Taiwan accredited under the Global Gold Anchor Scheme. Horizon builds luxury yachts from 60 to 150 feet across eight series, and is the first and so far only Far Eastern member of SYBAss, the Superyacht Builders Association.
History written fromhorizonyacht.com/about· About Horizonread 9/25/2026