America's Cup 2021: Team New Zealand's new boat revealed

Team New Zealand's new AC75 which is officially launched tonight. Photo / Supplied

The Herald has obtained exclusive images of Team New Zealand's second AC75 boat which is to be unveiled later today.

The boat which will be used to defend the Auld Mug looks different from their first AC75 Te Aihe.

From the images obtained by the Herald, it appears the bottom of the boat is similar to the British entry INEOS Team UK, while the bow looks like the same style as American Magic's.

Team New Zealand will be keen to test out the new boat as soon as possible after Te Aihe was taken off the water last month.

The bow of the second Team New Zealand boat. Photo / Supplied

Team New Zealand's new AC75. Photo / Supplied

INEOS Team UK grinder Freddie Carr told the Herald this weeks he expects the defender will reveal something special.

"You can't ignore the fact that Team New Zealand won the last America's Cup in Bermuda by an incredible amount of innovation.

"On the flipside of that I think they have done a very good job of writing this rule which potentially took away a lot of this gain that they had over the sailing world. Now the question of what their second race boat will look like is the million dollar question.

"But it's Team New Zealand - they have been over 20-25 years on how they develop their boats and I think we might see something quite exciting. Let's hope so."