Famous Bremen shipyard celebrates anniversary

Project Cosmos during the test drive in December 2025

Yachting | 2026

Founded on 27th June 1875, Lürssen marked its 150th anniversary last summer – a milestone in a story defined by ingenuity, precision, and family tradition. From humble beginnings on the banks of the Weser River to its status today as one of the world’s leading shipyards, Lürssen remains a family-owned company spanning four generations of visionaries. Entrepreneurial spirit has always been at the core of the brand. When Gottlieb Daimler developed his revolutionary “explosion engine”, he turned to Lürssen to build a suitable vessel for it. The result, launched in 1886, was the Rems – the world’s first motorboat. With its modified 1.5 hp Daimler engine and sleek lines, the craft was a technical masterpiece of its time and laid the foundation for modern motor yachting. Today, 150 years later, Lürssen continues to define the future of yacht building. The recently launched 114-metre Cosmos represents the next major step toward a climate-neutral yachting era. Commissioned by a forward-thinking owner, Cosmos is equipped with a methanol-based fuel cell system capable of providing up to 15 days of emission-free anchoring and 1000 nautical miles of low-emission cruising. “My dream is to build a yacht without a combustion engine – just as my great-grandfather helped shape the history of yachting with the first motorboat in 1886,” says Peter Lürssen.

Friedrich Lürßen founded a boatbuilding workshop in Bremen in 1875 at the age of only 24.

In 1886, Gottlieb Daimler commissioned the six-meter-long Rems – Lürssen built the world’s first motorboat.

Peter Lürssen – 4th generation