Luxury Car Companies Are All About The High Rises Now
Sometimes car companies just don’t know how to stay in their lane. The latest trend automakers are chasing is real estate. The biggest names in the game have heavily invested in prestige pieces around the world. By world I mean Miami and Dubai primarily. This is increasingly becoming a strategy manufacturers are making to create a 360 degree experience.
Consider it the same way that Apple wants to get you hooked into its ecosystem and make it too comfortable to leave. If you are part of the porsche lifestyle brand, decking your house decked out in their particular aesthetic, then you are less likely to stray from the fold. Many car companies caught onto this early on, and accommodation is just the last logical step.
“Modern luxury is defined less by the product itself, the brand name or the price, but by the overall product and brand experience,” Porsche Lifestyle Group CEO Stefan Buescher told Dezeen.
“The Porsche Design Tower Miami is therefore not only a symbol of architectural excellence, but also a testimony to our commitment to offering our customers ultra-exclusive experiences.”
Aston Martin actually started with “smaller” projects, like the angular black-cedar home in Hudson Valley, New York. It’s half home and half gallery purpose built for a large Aston Martin collection.
The clientele of these projects are well suited to the process as well. If you’re buying special edition cars chances are you’re used to dropping big money long before you ever get your product, so buying a penthouse in an unbuilt highrise isn’t going to be a big deal, especially if it means supporting a brand that’s staked it’s entire reputation on high performance luxury.
We took a look at this new architectural phenomenon and took each building out for a spin to see which is the ritziest, as well as timing to see which can go from 0 to 100 the quickest.
Porsche
Porsche may be the first mover in the luxury condo space when they started the Porsche Design Tower in 2013. The apartments feature a car elevator and upper-floor private garage space. Each apartment has between two and 11 parking spaces, where the cars are pushed out of the elevator automatically on rails, and parked behind glass. To live there you’re going to need a cool nine million in cash. That’s how much Lionel Messi paid at least when he moved there in 2022. It’s a 56 floor highrise and it’s reported that Messi’s dwelling has 3 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms with an open-floor plan.
Porsche also has a design tower in Stuttgart Germany, but it’s nowhere near as sexy.
Pagani
One second Pagani is announcing a beautiful manual transmission Huayra. Next thing they’re building luxury residences on the Miami waterfront, I guess they caught the bug off Bentley. The building is designed by Revuelta while interiors are curated by Pagani Arte. This residential tower is the first extension Pagani has made into the residential space and comes inspired by the Italian Renaissance. It’s a 28 story slice of heaven coming with a 240 foot waterfront boardwalk with private boat slips. Every residence is situated on a corner, making only four per floor. Each is a two to four bedroom home ranging from 2,000 to over 3,300 square feet with expansive outdoor terrace spaces ranging from over 800 to 1,040 square feet. Penthouses span from 6,900 square feet with up to 4,400 square feet of outdoor living. Each home comes fully furnished with 11-foot ceilings on spaces with waterfront facing outdoor spaces. While penthouses with private pools will get an extra 2 feet chucked into the ceiling.
Bugatti
Bugatti are getting freaky with their own Dubai skyscraper is it looks more like solidified wind, or flowing underwater seaweed. It’s being built by Binghatti, the same developer working on the Mercedes-Benz tower. It’s a modest 42-storey residential tower with 171 apartments and 11 “Riviera mansions”. Everybody gets their own wraparound balcony on every level. The Riviera is referenced at every turn as Bugatti seeks to bring a little slice of France to the middle of the desert. The lower section looks like a resort, while above is revealed layer upon layer of balcony swimming pools. As with any good luxury car skyscraper, it will have two vehicle lifts so people can keep their cars with them at all times.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes is bucking the trend by going to the millionaires playland Dubai to build their tower, I’m sorry Miami you’re too low rent for Mercedes. This is their first residential tower and will reportedly stand 341 meters tall nearby to the Burj Khalifa. It won’t be taking the Burj’s title from it, but it will still be one of the tallest buildings in the city. It’ll be 65 storeys tall and be packed with 225 apartments along with a bevy of lounges, exhibition spaces, restaurants and a gym. It’s been set to complete in 2026. Looking at floorplans it looks like it goes from quite cosy 2 bedroom setups all the way up to Triplex Penthouses for all the princes that need a crash pad while they’re in town.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is way ahead of the curve, while everyone else is just announcing their buildings they’ve already finished, opening a 66 story residence where the Miami River meets Biscayne Bay. The Aston Martin Residences in Miami is comprised of 391 ultra-luxurious condominiums. It’s apparently the tallest all-residential building south of New York.
99% of these have already been sold and Aston is pleased to let us know that one in eight of the homeowners already own an Aston. the condos and amenity spaces are encased in a bold sail-shaped building reflecting the marina setting and offering gorgeous panoramic views of Biscayne Bay. Small Aston Martin flairs are diffused throughout the space including doors with bespoke artisan Aston Martin handles, number plinths, and kestrel tan leather door tabs. One small detail some would forget to account for is that the architects were mindful to create parking ramps with an incline that doesn’t scrape particularly low rides. Between the 52nd and 55th floors is a huge glass staircase. It has two movie theatres, a virtual golf simulator, business centre and conference room, kids playroom, as well as a full-service spa, beauty salon and barber shop. Why ever leave? If you need a workout just use the two floor fitness centre that looks out on views of the Atlantic. Or if you need an instagram snap of your supermodel girlfriend just head out to the infinity pool with panoramic views of Biscayne Bay.