“The Women’s Car Is A Myth” – Why Brabus Is The Car World’s Answer To Haute Couture
Brabus may be known for transforming vehicles into high-performance automotive haute couture, but its next chapter of world-building will see the German company – that has its eye firmly on its car-collecting Middle Eastern clientele – rise to a new level in the region. Bazaar Arabia chats to its two dynamic partners, in business and life, leading the charge
In the world of automotive, very few names can claim the embodiment of rarity, performance, unrestrained detail and opulence as Brabus. For almost five decades, the German luxury tuning and bespoke automotive brand has been crafting and engineering haute couture automotive art, building products that not only move people physically at speed, but emotionally, powerfully and passionately. Founded by Bodo Buschmann nearly five decades ago, the brand now finds itself in a new era of agility, creativity and where limits to its world-building are not barriers, but tempting invitations. And again, unlike most automotive companies, this vision, speed and agility comes directly from the top – the drive, passion and hands-on creativity of two partners, in life and business.
To understand the world and the future of Brabus, one must first understand CEO Constantin Buschmann and Director of VIP relations, Mili Umicevic. Buschmann is the son of Brabus’ founder and has been leading business growth since his father’s passing in 2018, overcoming turbulent times and shaping and reshaping the legacy left behind. Where Mili – arguably, Constantin’s secret weapon – brings her fashion school graduate, luxury real estate and strategic background to be the creative brain of the operation. Together, they form an enviable, charismatic dynamic duo, where it’s hard to see where one’s idea starts and the other’s begins.
“I have loved cars since forever. For me, a wonderful property and a good car were always the things I needed to have,” says Mili, who also works in high-end property, under her company Mili’s Mansions. “I love to sell, I’m a really good salesperson. I started to build my own company and sell properties and realised, I’m a good connector, I’m good with people and that they trust me really fast.” One day, the two met by chance, talked a lot about cars and immediately hit it off. “We started to like each other. I wanted to go to Majorca to sell properties, and Constantine said, ‘Stay here with me.’ He asked me if I want to help out at Brabus with the skills I have and with the people I know. We just started the journey there.” Eventually, their partnership grew, they fell in love, and have now been together for three years.
“It’s really a privilege to work as a couple on a business that we both love, as well as having the traction as a brand that’s been accelerating fast,” says Constantin, a fierce champion of his fiancé. During our call, he takes every chance to elevate her skills and importance within Brabus. “We come at everything from completely different perspectives; however, we mostly reach the same conclusions.” He adds, “This is why Mili’s background is extremely important. She comes at every problem through an emotional, visual, fashion and culture-based perspective. I can see things, talk about them with her and appreciate them, but of course, my outlook is that of business.” Mili chimes in, “He’s from the German industry side of things, I’m not.” She laughs, “I’m the fast roller.” This combination of yin and yang is making Brabus one of the most exciting luxury lifestyle brands in the world right now.
Follow Mili on any social media platform, and you’ll see the life of a fast-moving, high-end global citizen, deeply immersed in culture, fashion, architecture and creative pursuits, attending glamorous events and mingling with her high end VIPs. This offers a glimpse of the backbone of where Brabus is headed. “A lot of people ask me why I’m so attracted to work for Brabus,” she says. “Firstly, I love that I can build a legacy with Constantine together. I love that I can help build it up and make it bigger, better and faster,” she says. “The second thing is that there is so much potential, because it’s not about cars in the end. And this is what I want to show the whole world.” The duo travels extensively, gaining inspiration and orchestrating business beyond automotive itself. “The mission of Brabus is what we today describe as the ‘one second wow factor’,” says Constantin.
“Building products that you see. When you walk down a high street, look into a store, and you’ve got one second to convince somebody and give them energy and emotion. That is a completely different thing than saying we’re a car builder.” The most interesting part of this mission? It doesn’t contain Mercedes-Benz – which Brabus has been associated with for 42 years – and it doesn’t centre around cars, but extends the specialness of a Brabus vehicle into other categories. “It’s a very clear product design mission of saying, ‘We’re going to build things that fascinate people right away’. It doesn’t have to be a car or a boat. It could be an event, it could be an experience,” says Constantin.
To date, Brabus has crafted a range of bold, rare, unique and incredibly beautiful machines, from cars to motorbikes to boats, and beyond. This year sees Brabus’ first foray into luxury real estate, a project that has Mili’s fingerprints all over it, though she’s quick to credit it as a joint effort. Brabus Island is a 100,000 square metre residential complex located in Abu Dhabi’s Al Seef District. It includes four high-rise towers, with 350 luxury apartments and 100 villas. The property’s architecture will be marked by the very Brabus signature of contemporary, bold, minimalist design choices, with each home designed to reflect the bespoke nature of its supercars, completely personalised via a modular design approach.
“There’s a huge difference between designing a car or a boat and designing your future home,” says Mili of the pursuit. “It’s more intimate, you need calm. You can’t just take the wonderful leather out of a car, put it in a home and say, ‘Now it’s Brabus-ised’. It’s about a different kind of emotion that we have to create. She adds, “Constantine and I, we just do things we would want for ourselves, and it just works out. We ask ourselves, would we love to have a bed like that? Would we love a kitchen like that? What should be on the wall? This is what we think about, about every single piece.” Of course, notes Constantin, this also presents a new challenge, as with every project the company undertakes, it must be engineered to the highest level of prestige.
“Last year, when we were in Abu Dhabi, I just said to Constantine, ‘I really believe we could have our own branded real estate project. Why don’t we just do it?’ Because of the good energy of the government there, and how everything builds up so fast. So, we mentioned it to the right people in Abu Dhabi, and eight months later, we signed the contract and showed it to the world.” Constantin agrees, it was a perfect opportunity, and one that couldn’t have happened anywhere else but the UAE, not to the level of esteem and expectations he sees for the brand. “It is addictive and fun and exciting to find these new partners that believe in you, who give us this new one way to experiment with design and see what life has in store for us.”
Brabus Island marks a major play for the brand in the region, one of its key markets, and according to the pair, their favourite to work with. “The UAE is an important place, personally for me and for Brabus, especially when we talk about women and bringing femininity into it,” muses Mili. “The Middle East being where the most Haute Couture is sent, just thinking about that, is the answer to everything. The Arabian woman is so selfassured, so into fashion, and their sense for quality is so high, there’s no one better in the world.” Reaching women in the region, through different and new touch points, is now part of their key strategy, as the pair admits, Brabus has traditionally been a very masculine marque. “The women’s car is a myth,” says Constantin. “In our opinion, no successful woman wants to drive a small version of a so-called ‘men’s car’. Every successful woman wants to drive a robust car, just like what successful men want to drive. So the question is, how can you reach that audience more as a brand that was and still is centred around male clientele?” Next year, our region will have an answer to this through many exciting new collaborations across various categories, including one top-secret (for now) high-end design project exclusive to the Middle East.
All this is just the beginning of Brabus’ domination, where in the next decade it plans to be as globally recognised by its lifestyle alignments as its cars. “We’ll have differentiated products that are clearly identifiable as Brabus products. And of course, you can still buy a wheel, you can still buy a spoiler, you can still buy the material,” says Constantin. “But the products that will define our brand are the ones that, like our very special cars, are the ones that you see and go, ‘What is this? I need to look at everything.’ We believe that the brands that will succeed also need to feel alive.” And here is where that aforementioned agility, creativity and sheer pursuit of perfection come in. “We like doing experiments. Why not build a boat? Why not design a motorhome? It’s fun. And in the end, we’re always able to say, it’s because Mili and I wanted to. Why stick to genres and categories when you can just design cool things?” What that means exactly, we’ll have to wait to see.
Imagery Supplied
Lead Image Credits: Mili matches with the Brabus 900 Peetch, a limited-edition, Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet featuring a custom peach-coloured exterior, upgraded engine that produces 900 horsepower, and an interior with custom materials and Brabus branding
From the Harper’s Bazaar November 2025 Issue