The Dubai-based developer Binghatti’s Dh30 billion Mercedes-Benz City – the world’s first – went on sale on Wednesday. Spread over 10 million sqft of built-up area, the multi-tower project will house 13,386 units – studio, one, two, three, and four-bedroom units, and five-bed penthouses. In terms of prices, studios start from around Dh1.6 million, one-bedroom units from Dh2.6 million, two-bedroom units from Dh3 million, and three-bedroom units from around Dh5 million.
“An important point here is the difference between what we’re doing now and what we did before in our previous partnership with Mercedes-Benz, which is extending this offering to more clientele. We had starting prices that were much higher, and unit sizes were much larger. Here, the target was to provide a wider experience, similar to the product line of Mercedes-Benz itself,” said Muhammad BinGhatti, chairman of Binghatti Holding.
“We have multiple towers, and each tower is designed and curated in a way to celebrate the heritage, and specifically the iconic concept luxury cars of the brand of Mercedes-Benz.” Muhammad added that the project will be self-financed from the group’s free cash flows. While commenting on branded residences, he said such projects offer a whole new plethora of opportunities and experience from the brand itself, in terms of design and lifestyle curation.
“The automotive industry was way ahead of the real estate industry in terms of technology and design. The amount of technology you get in a car versus the amount of technology in an apartment, there’s no comparison. The car is priced so that almost anyone can afford it. That brought me to a question: why can’t we achieve this in real estate? So brand collaboration, specifically with automotive, brings this value to real estate, and then ultimately that value reflects on the price,” he added.
Axel Harries, head of global customer service and parts at Mercedes-Benz AG, said Dubai is one of the world’s main hot spots. “When you come here, you see how everything is really booming. We believe that this is also the right place to be. With the revolutionary business ideas, we together complement each other in a great manner,” he said during the launch of the project.
