Euronews Culture takes a looks at British car manufacturer Aston Martin's first foray into real estate as it tries to drive changes in the luxury market.
ADVERTISEMENTLast weekend, Miami hosted its annual Formula 1 grand prix.
The Florida city, which held its first race in 2022, has already become a natural nesting ground for the sport which oozes lavish and luxury lifestyles to excess.
On Sunday, British driver Lando Norris claimed his maiden victory at the Hard Rock stadium in front of a crowd of 275,000. While all eyes were on the 24-year-old and his papaya-liveried McLaren teammates (among whom roamed, by way of a profane talisman, one special guest even more orange than the winning car, former president Donald Trump) the other teams were left to quietly pack up their equipment and ship out in hopes of a better result come Italy’s Emilia Romagna circuit in two weeks’ time.
Among them were the Aston Martin team, whose race weekend was dogged by underwhelming performance and yielded only two points for Spain's former world champion driver Fernando Alonso.
But while the Aston Martin made very little impact on track, the British luxury car manufacturer has ensured it will leave behind a more lasting legacy on the city of Miami.
That’s because the brand has just opened its “first ultra-luxury real estate project” in the downtown waterfront, a towering flattened lozenge of a building named (rather disappointingly, for anyone hoping for a continuation of its enigmatic car-naming form) Aston Martin Residences Miami.
Strange as it might sound, it's far from the first time a car brand has branched out into architecture and real estate. In fact, it's becoming something of a trend.
But aside from the name, what do owners of real estate in a luxury branded complex actually get?
Euronews Culture takes a look inside the building's "pinnacle", the $59-million (€54.7-million) triplex penthouse.
A room with a view
Billed by the company as an 'architectural marvel', the three-floor penthouse looks out over the Miami waterfront.
Promotional literature claims that the building is the "tallest all-residential building south of New York City," promising generous vistas of the Atlantic.
Car manufacturer's largesse
If you were worried that the company had entirely forgotten its motoring pedigree, fear not. The penthouse's new owner will receive "the last remaining Aston Martin Vulcan, valued at $3.2 million (€2.97-million), and a climate-controlled garage."
And for anyone wondering whether the building's interior design would omit the appurtenances of Aston Martin car interiors, on this front the Aston Martin building does not disappoint. The fittings and furnishings boast such empty branded flourishes as "doors with bespoke artisan Aston Martin handles, number plinths, and kestrel tan leather door tabs."
Varicose expanses of marble à la mode await anyone wishing to bathe before the floor-to-ceiling windows in this building sculpted from "curvilinear glass and steel" (much like a car, as the promotional material keeps insisting, as if the car were the last word in domestic bliss).
Is it worth it?
Just because there is a market for something - and a high-paying one at that - should this fact alone confer a level of aesthetic esteem on an object or asset?
Astonishingly, Aston Martin claim that in spite of the penthouse still seemingly being on the market, "99% of the 391 condominiums" elsewhere in the building have already been sold.
Clearly, there is a huge market for luxury real estate, even if the incongruity of getting a car manufacturer to plumb in your bathroom might make the uninitiated balk. Then again, it can be tricky getting hold of a good plumber.
