Why is Porsche designing $40 million apartments in Bangkok, where the average salary is $16,000?

Porsche Design, a subsidiary of Volkswagen-owned Porsche, announced plans last week to design a luxury residential tower in Bangkok, Thailand, in partnership with developer Ananda.

The pair will develop 22 duplex and quadplex “Sky Villas” as part of the third Porsche Design tower globally, ranging in size from 525 to 1,135 square meters.

The apartments will cost an average of $15 million, but the most expensive place will be put on the market for $40 million.

Porsche Design will create what it calls “passion spaces” in the Bangkok apartment block, which will allow petrol drivers to design their own luxury garages. Drivers can access these spaces via a spiral access ramp located in the center of the building.

The automaker’s subsidiary drew inspiration from the mechanisms and features of the electric 911 Targa and Mission R concepts when designing the residence. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2028.

“Porsche Design Tower Bangkok represents a revolutionary fusion of refined design and optimal functionality,” said Stefan Buescher, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Porsche Lifestyle Group.

“Our vision is to create a living space where one’s passion can thrive. We aspire to passion in every endeavor, ensuring that our projects transcend living spaces to become expressions of individuality.”

Porsche towers

Porsche is in shape to move away from its luxury cars in search of new customers. The company has already designed luxury residences in Stuttgart, Porsche’s headquarters, and Miami.

The automaker’s reputation for luxury excellence made it easier to market itself as an estate designer for the ultra-rich. Indeed, the buildings are said to represent the key principles of the Porsche brand: “functional design, technical innovation and forward-looking technologies.”

In Miami, the group designed custom elevators in its 60-story tower that allowed residents to drive their cars up to a parking lot adjacent to their apartments.

The company says its new Design Tower in Bangkok represents a growing shift to the Asian market as disposable income rises and the number of ultra-high net worth individuals in the region has increased in recent decades.

However, the new tower also marks the biggest difference yet in terms of accommodation prices compared to the average income of residents.

Miami was the first obvious location for Porsche Design to experiment with luxury apartments. The average resident earns around $60,000 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, while a host of billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, have moved there in recent years because of the weather and the generous housing regime. Florida state taxes.

But in Bangkok, the average resident earns just 560,783 Thai Bhat per year, according to the Institute for Economic Research’s Global Salary calculator, or about $16,400. Data compiled by Statista says the average monthly household income in 2021 in Bangkok was 39,100 Bhat (about US$1,100).

There will no doubt be plenty of wealthy domestic and international buyers eager to snap up the expensive accommodation, but the incomes of typical residents suggest that most will see the tower from the streets of Bangkok.

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