On the road to Dubai with Edel & Stark

The Edel & Stark Group is expanding to the United Arab Emirates. The CFO of Edel & Stark, Benedikt Lüchinger, took his time to answer some questions for the ES Magazine about how this developped and what was special about this expansion on the road to Dubai.

Where did the vision to expand the Edel & Stark group with a location in the United Arab Emirates originate from?

Dubai is the central hub of car dealership in Arab countries and processes millions of car sales every year, including sales to Asia, especially China. In combination with the high percentage of foreign companies, the large yearly number of tourists of all categories and the countless enthusiastic car lovers, Dubai has a huge potential for premium-class luxury car rental. When one of our regular customers from the United Arab Emirates approached us with the suggestion to open a new branch in Dubai, we didn’t think about it for too long and dove into the first steps to get closer to this goal.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE. Why does Edel & Stark open their new branch in Dubai instead?

Concerning the hotel accommodations of business and leisure travelers, Dubai is still the leading city of the Emirates. Even though Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates and shows fast growing numbers of overnight stays, it doesn’t offer a similarly high market potential as Dubai does. Additionally, our team in Dubai will deliver all luxury cars to Abu Dhabi as well, be it to the airport, the hotel or a private residence.

What challenges did Edel & Stark face in the process of establishing a company in Dubai?

(laughs) Well, there were several challenges. It started with the shari’ah or Islamic law, which is different from ours, continued with differing expectations concerning the focus of the new branch to things like simple communication problems and different mentalities. Therefore, it is easy to understand that the planning lasted a lot longer than we initially thought.

How long will it still take until I can rent a luxury car with Edel & Stark in the United Arab Emirates?

This will be possible in February 2017. Starting from February, the E and S Luxury Car Rental LLC with an office in Dubai will offer its first 10 luxury cars of the brands Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, Range Rover, Rolls Royce and others. Additionally, we will have some very rare cars available for rent for special preferences (winks). These include the Bugatti Veyron, the Ferrari LaFerrari or the Porsche 918 Spyder. Furthermore, we are developping the ultimate street and race track experience in Dubai: The Holy Trinity on the race tracks. This event will be reserved for an especially demanding and financially strong clientele.

Is there a different attitude towards luxury cars present in the United Arab Emirates compared to Europe? Are such vehicles more common there or are they similarly exclusive?

In Dubai, you can see a multitude of luxurious vehicles on a much smaller space. This alone is a reason to say that Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin and co. don’t really stand out of the masses. However, the attitude of the owners towards their vehicles is totally different in Dubai. Sports cars are kind of worshiped, looked after with a lot of love and presented to jealous neighbours and the rest of the city with roaring engines and brightly polished hood ornament. A beautiful way of living this car cult in the world of the Arabian Nights will be our desert sports cars tour. Changing vehicles and an unbelievable natural spectacle await. The route will start in Dubai through Oman to Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Luxury car rental in the United Arab Emirates is the alternative to enjoy your individual driving experience.