Cigarette Racing has signed Malta's Yacht Hub Group to sell and service its boats across Europe and Africa through a new company, Cigarette Racing Europe. The deal, announced on 5 November, covers 70 countries.
What the deal covers
The agreement was signed at Cigarette's factory in Miami. Cigarette Racing Europe will be based in Malta, with a marina, and will handle sales, distribution and after-sales service across the region. The plan is a selected network of authorised dealers, service locations in key markets, and links with superyacht brokers, yacht builders and yacht management companies. Cigarettes will also be offered as superyacht tenders, built around the owner and the mothership.
"Signing this agreement represents an exciting new chapter for Cigarette Racing and our continued international growth," said Alex Ruiz, chief executive of Cigarette Racing Team. Charlo Briffa, chief executive of Yacht Hub Group, said: "Every Cigarette owner in the region should feel personally looked after, for the life of their boat."
Yacht Hub Group will show the brand at the Monaco Yacht Show, the Cannes Yachting Festival, boot Düsseldorf and the Monaco Grand Prix. Powerboat News, which covered the deal on 8 November, noted that the announcement gives no investment figure, dealer count, start date or model line-up. Speed on the Water also reported it.
What it means if you own one
The release promises three things for owners in the region: an owners' club, restoration projects for classic Cigarettes, and an approved status programme for qualifying pre-owned boats. Existing owners, captains and crew in Europe and Africa are asked to register their boats with Cigarette Racing Europe to hear about the club and regional service.
An approved pre-owned scheme matters most to buyers. A used Cigarette can be decades old, and a classic restoration starts with knowing exactly which boat you have. Cigarette was founded in Miami in 1969, and in the US it still sells through dealers. The hull number is the first thing to check on any of them.
The HIN code and recall record
The Coast Guard's manufacturer register lists one code for the brand: CRT, Cigarette Holdings LLC in Opa Locka, Florida. A US-built Cigarette's HIN starts with those three letters, then a serial, the build month and year, and the model year. The ISO format used on boats in Europe adds a country code in front, so the same hull can be written US-CRT. See how to read a boat HIN for the full breakdown.
The Coast Guard recall database lists two campaigns under the Cigarette Racing Team name, both from 2007 and both closed. 07R2029S covered 20 boats of the 39 Top Gun inboard, model year 2007, and closed in April 2011. 07R2028S covered four 42XP inboards and closed in November 2007.
If you are looking at a used Cigarette, decode the HIN with the free HIN decoder to confirm the builder and model year match the listing, then run the boat recall check. Cigarette is not the only builder adding dealers this month: MasterCraft signed 13 new Crest and Balise pontoon dealers.
Check the boat, not just the listing
Type the 12-character hull number from the transom. The decoder reads the builder, build month and model year, and the recall lookup lists any US Coast Guard recall campaign on record for that manufacturer. Free, no account.
