Riva's first 96' Argo Super hits the water before Cannes
What has actually launched
The first 96' Argo Super entered the water at Riva's La Spezia facility, the Ferretti Group site that handles the brand's projects between 21 and 40 metres. The yacht measures 28.8 metres with a 6.5-metre beam, and is powered by a pair of 2,000hp MTU 12V 2000 M96X engines. Exterior and interior lines come from Officina Italiana Design working with the group's Strategic Product Committee and the Ferretti engineering department, the same three-way arrangement that has shaped Riva models for three decades.
The 96' Argo Super is a direct evolution of the 90' Argo rather than a clean-sheet design. The extra length and the wider beam go into the main living zones and the connection between inside and outside, which is where Riva has been pushed hardest by owners moving up from open boats. Sea trials run through the summer, with the official debut set for the Cannes Yachting Festival in September.
Why the successor matters to a 90' Argo owner
A new series above an existing one changes the story a broker tells. The 90' Argo has been one of Riva's steadiest sellers, and a well-kept example still trades quickly, but the moment a longer, better-equipped successor is in the water the older hull stops being the current boat and starts being the previous one. That shift usually shows up in the market before it shows up in asking prices.
The practical read is timing. If you intend to move up inside the Riva range, an order placed before the Cannes debut is negotiated against a boat nobody has walked through yet. After September the first-hull curiosity is gone, the order book fills, and delivery slots start moving into the following season.
The wider Riva position
La Spezia is now the centre of gravity for Riva's larger work, and the 96' sits between the flybridge fleet and the 102' Corsaro Super. Keeping a full ladder of sizes inside one brand is how Ferretti Group holds owners who might otherwise cross to a Dutch or Italian custom yard on their second or third boat. Every new rung in that ladder is a defence of the group's own resale market.
For a buyer, the value in a series like this is predictability. Officina Italiana Design has not reinvented the look, the engine package is a known MTU pair, and the yard has built the previous generation many times over. That is a different proposition from a one-off, and it prices differently when the boat comes back to the market five years from now.