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Icon’s Derelict 1972 Chevrolet C20 pickup truck was four years in the making. Icon’s Derelict 1972 Chevrolet C20 pickup truck was four years in the making.

The Oscar-winning special effects supervisor lifts the hood on 007 filming secrets as Assouline revs up a landmark new book. 

But rather than drum their fingers impatiently, the spy’s large and famously obsessive fan base can entertain themselves with Assouline’s trilogy of Bond books. The French luxury publishing house has just released the third — James Bond Cars — which joins its earlier volumes on 007’s style and destinations. All three can be purchased individually, or together in limited-edition brushed aluminium ‘coffret’ slipcase inspired by the technical look of Q Branch’s gadgets.

This latest is curated and introduced by Oscar-winning special effects supervisor Chris Corbould OBE, whose career includes the special effects on Star Wars, the Dark Knight trilogy, and Inception. But the Londoner is best-known for Bond, having worked on 15 films with four different 007s over 34 years. The book assembles a remarkable selection of over 300 rarely seen images, including behind-the-scenes shots of the cars (and an eclectic array of other transportation) used by Bond and his adversaries, and original design sketches and technical drawings from Eon Productions’ special effects skunkworks. Corbould’s expert commentary provides the context and is fascinating, funny and honest. He spoke to Elite Traveler in advance of the James Bond Cars book launch.

You’ve created special effects for some of the biggest movie franchises. How does working on Bond compare?

Since I was a kid, I’ve always had a passion for the cars in the Bond films, and because they have gadgets and are doing weird and wonderful things, Bond’s cars come under my special effects remit. It’s just a lot of fun, but you’re also working on a prestigious franchise where the budget is big enough for you to do the best possible job. In Die Another Day there’s a chase on ice between the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Jaguar XKR. The cars needed four-wheel drive but neither carmaker offered it as an option, so the underneath of those cars were built from scratch in-house to our own bespoke design. As a special effects guy, it doesn’t get much better than that.

What you create is far more than just a prop or transportation. Are James Bond cars almost as important to the franchise as the man himself?

I think so, and particularly in the case of the Aston Martin DB5. It’s not just a car: it’s a character in the film. There was a lot of debate on Skyfall between the director Sam Mendes and the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson about whether the helicopter which was circling Bond’s ancestral home in Scotland should destroy the DB5 parked outside. Some felt like killing the car would be like killing Bond. We obviously did blow it up in the end, but then in Spectre you see it being rebuilt in Q’s workshop, because that’s what you can do on a Bond film.

Clearly the budgets are huge, and in the past the stunts have bordered on the camp, but do you ever reign back the gadgets and the effects to keep the focus on the human side of the story?

Yes, we do. I was delighted when the DB5 went into full combat mode in No Time to Die because in recent films it just had cameo roles, maybe with Bond driving off in it at the end. So, we dreamt up all sorts of new gadgets to go into it, like a drone coming out of the rear number plate, either as a weapon or for surveillance, and at one stage we had it escaping by driving off a cliff and a Union Jack parachute coming out. But we took it all down a notch because it was such an emotional scene between Daniel Craig and Léa Seydoux in the car when they’re surrounded and the guys come forward to shoot the windows out. We all felt that we didn’t really want to overpower that with some weird and wonderful special effects, so we pared it right back.

What’s your personal favourite of all the James Bond cars you’ve worked on?

I have a soft spot for the Aston Martin V8 Vantage that we first used in The Living Daylights with Timothy Dalton, and I’ve now been around long enough to see it come back with a cameo in No Time to Die. I oversaw the cars out in Austria on The Living Daylights, and I fell in love with the sound and the look of the V8 then. It’s such a stylish car, but not as instantly recognisable as the DB5. It was our job to take them across a frozen lake to the set every day and, between us, we had a great time. On the ice there’s nothing to hit, so we could donut them to our heart’s content and not worry about breaking them.

Of all the car-related special effects you’ve done for Bond over five decades, what was the most challenging?

It’s in the book, but it’s not actually a car. The producers weren’t happy with the motorcycle chase in GoldenEye, so I recommended replacing it with a tank. The whole sequence came out of that one conversation, but it then became my job to find the tanks. Not easy! But I sourced a couple of Russian T54 tanks in England which we modified and then, weirdly, re-exported to St Petersburg for filming. I got a call late one night from a very panicked truck driver saying they wouldn’t let one of the tanks onto the ferry because it could still fire a shell. So, we welded a solid billet of steel into the barrel, and I had to drag a guy out of the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House to give us a certificate to say that it was now deactivated and wouldn’t sink the boat.

Bond memorabilia can be hugely valuable now, especially the props made by you, or by your forebears in production or special effects design, such as Sir Ken Adam and John Stears. Do you ever think about the likely future value of a car or gadget as you’re making it?

One of my few regrets is that I should have kept more of the gadgets that we made by hand as mementos over the years. But when you’re working on the films, your head is down just trying to make everything and hit deadlines, so you don’t think about the objects’ collectability and their monetary value. The Bond films have always tried to do as many real special effects as we possibly can. It was the same working with Christopher Nolan. He’s a huge Bond fan and has the same mantra that if you can get the effect in-camera and on the day rather than doing it digitally later, then you should. So, we make a lot of stuff, but it’s only when you get to the end and everything’s handed over to the Bond archive that you wish you had been able to keep a few bits and pieces. Of course, you sign a contract to say that everything that you make is owned by Eon Productions, but if I had been able to hang onto some of it, I’d easily be a multimillionaire by now.

$150, mytheresa.com

It’s a unique expression that goes light on the smoke. It’s a unique expression that goes light on the smoke.

The Mark just unveiled an ultra-luxe new holiday experience. The Mark just unveiled an ultra-luxe new holiday experience.

The iconic whisky with the equally iconic bottle is the perfect gift for the whisky connoisseur. The iconic whisky with the equally iconic bottle is the perfect gift for the whisky connoisseur.

Project Endurance promises unprecedented access to McLaren’s racing program, complete with simulator time and VIP treatment at Le Mans—if you make the cut. Project Endurance promises unprecedented access to McLaren’s racing program, complete with simulator time and VIP treatment at Le Mans—if you make the cut.

If you’re ready to make a move next year, here’s where to look for luxury real estate. 

Cross-border house-collecting is gaining traction as a means of diversification for those fleeing political instability and wealth taxes. Indeed, for many of the globally mobile, the concept of primary and secondary residences is becoming outdated, with rotation between several locations across the year now increasingly common.

Luxury real estate is an attractive option due to capital growth potential, lifestyle attractions, and the usual plus-points of good available education and healthcare. A spread of luxury real estate investments hedged across a few jurisdictions remains one of the most stable asset portfolios in uncertain times.

But where to put your money? Whether you’re a pure investor or are in the market for a palm-fringed exit strategy, here are the property hotspots to target in 2026.

Where to buy luxury property

The investment play: Dubai and Abu Dhabi

In May, Fitch Ratings predicted a ‘moderate correction’ in Dubai pricing by 2026, following a 60 percent price increase from 2022 to March 2025. However, oversupply is restricted to the mid-range sector, says Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, with competition for luxury property in Dubai still very intense in super-prime areas. Dubai, he adds, remains “the biggest super-prime market in the world, and I don’t think that’s set to change in the next 12 months.”

Lara Michaelsen, head of European private office at Engel & Völkers, agrees that the city-state, where expats make up around 90 percent of the population, is a good bet for luxury property in 2026. Yet it’s not quite the boom market that it was, says Bailey. “Four years ago, your tax-free salary would have given you a very good lifestyle, [but now] it’s a much more expensive proposition.”

Investors are increasingly looking to Abu Dhabi, says Victoria Garrett, head of global residential at Savills, with its new international schools, “huge infrastructure projects and amazing lifestyle. It’s got a cultural hub with the Louvre and the Guggenheim, and Disneyland coming down the line.” Prices are rising but “from a lower price per square foot than Dubai,” she says. Bailey, too, points out that “there’s massive interest from the hotel brands, and all the branded residences want to be in Abu Dhabi.”

The lifestyle choice: Cascais and the Algarve

Nearly half of the high-net-worth individuals in the US and Europe surveyed by Knight Frank in July 2025 plan to relocate to or move within Europe in 2026. Lisbon and its surrounding areas are tipped as an emerging “distinct owner-occupier hotspot” by Michaelsen. “It offers a high quality of life, and a relatively competitive cost of living compared to other major European capitals,” as well as “excellent, though evolving, residency programs.”

Rising property prices have led to a shift in Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme “away from property and towards entrepreneurial investment,” says Bailey. Newcomers who work in specific fields are exempt from paying tax on foreign income, and they also benefit from a 20 percent flat income tax for 10 years. Garrett recommends Cascais, on Lisbon’s coastal northern tip. “It has the beaches, the quality of life and it also offers easy access to a city.”

These are among the attractions that drew Tristram Hillier, a British entrepreneur, to relocate there. His children now attend an international school and spend their free time sailing, golfing, and playing at Benfica’s youth football academy. While most expats, he says, come to Portugal for its “fantastic food and culture, the weather and the beaches […] you’ve also got people who are moving away from something, and I think over the past few years, political change in America has driven that.”

Further south, the Algarve has undergone a transformation — from a coastal region with a collection of mid-range golf resorts to a year-round luxury lifestyle destination, with a notable expansion of international schools and high-end homes, according to Garrett. Americans are now joining the British, Irish, and Portuguese communities, drawn by the recent launch of the first direct flights from Newark to Faro. In high-end Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo, the price of super-prime luxury real estate rose by 25 percent from 2022 to the first quarter of 2025. Garrett expects further growth, “because on the world’s stage it’s actually still looking like good value.»

The buyers’ market: London

Prime prices in the UK capital have been depressed for some time, leaving buyers wary. “Sales volumes at the top end are down by about half from where they were three years ago,” says Bailey, while “the £7m-plus market” (approx. $9.3m) has been sinking since early 2024, when the government scrapped the ‘non-dom’ rules that had allowed some foreign residents to avoid tax on their overseas assets. For investors prepared to take a long-term view, London is “much more affordable than it has been in the past 15 years.” Bailey knows of two investment funds that are «positioning themselves to buy prime London property as a kind of investment play.”

Matthew Robertson, founder and CFO at Valouran, the super-prime London developer behind The Whiteley, Bishops Avenue Gardens, and the Broadway, argues that, for an overseas buyer, prime London property “is about 50 percent cheaper than it was in real terms” at the market’s 2014 peak, taking into consideration price drops, inflation, and sterling’s fall against the dollar. “So at some point, this has got to look like a buying opportunity.” Indeed, Savills predicts that prime central London values will drop by 4 percent by the end of 2025, rise by 1 percent in 2026, and rise annually thereafter by 3.5 to 5 percent in 2027-2029.

Betting on the brand: Miami

Miami has reached a critical point in its post-pandemic transformation from a vacation destination to one where businessmen and women and their families now base their lives. Booming demand drove luxury real estate prices sky high: by June 2025, those who invested in the city five years previously had seen price increases of more than 80 percent, according to Knight Frank.

However, Miami topped the most recent UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index, with the report noting that mainstream pricing “is expected to turn negative in the coming quarters.” The authors exempted “the luxury oceanfront condo segment,” but other indications suggest that the top end of the market is not immune.

Using year-on-year data, Knight Frank calculates that Miami started 2025 with the world’s strongest growth in super-prime sales, only to contract by 52 percent the following quarter. The market has “really cooled,” says Bailey, after four years of “speculative pricing.” His view is that Miami is entering a buyers’ market: “There’s more supply and more choice for buyers, who can now wait to strike deals.”

One enticing option for those seeking both a solid track record and a promising trajectory is branded residences. Already home to 33 such developments, the city has 32 new projects in the pipeline, according to the latest Savills figures. Ritz-Carlton is the area’s biggest player, with six existing buildings and nine more planned.

“We have seen incredible growth in our branded residences portfolio in South Florida,” says Dana Jacobsohn, chief development officer for US luxury brands at Marriott International, Ritz-Carlton’s parent company. “Sales momentum is excellent,” she says, citing the forthcoming Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach, currently selling off-plan, which has “yielded incredible reception in the market.”

Ritz-Carlton buyers are typically “ultra-high-net-worth individuals seeking prestige and privacy,” she says. Such individuals are, in effect, investing in a quality trademark. Branded residences in the US are typically valued at more than 30 percent above comparable non-brand developments. In other words, the brand itself commands a distinct premium that provides reassurance to investors in unpredictable times.

Establishment glow-up: Paris and Milan

Established European capitals have seen few luxury branded residence schemes. So the announcement by the Maybourne Group, owner of Claridge’s, that 2027 will see its first hotel in Paris, accompanied by 23 ultra-luxury homes, has caused Francophile hearts to flutter.

Knight Frank’s recent Residence Report also recommends Haven, “a discreet developer” poised to open “its first full-building development on rue de l’Université… in late 2026.” The report concludes: In a city where new development has long been constrained by heritage and bureaucracy, this small cluster of schemes could change the narrative.’ Over the five years to June 2025, prime Paris prices have grown by 13.7 percent.

In Italy, newcomers who become tax-resident benefit from a flat tax of €200,000 (just over $232,000) on annual foreign income. For Milan, this, combined with the upgrading of the city’s luxury infrastructure, has led to price strengthening of 7 percent in the 12 months to June 2025.

Milan has always lagged behind Italy’s other historic cities in terms of expat appeal, despite its fashion and design credentials and proximity to the Alps and Lake Como. But the 2021 opening of Casa Cipriani, the New York private members’ club and hotel, is seen as a turning point. “They feel that they’ve filled a niche,” says Bailey. For “people who are buying super prime property around the world,” Casa Cipriani brings “the same kind of infrastructure that you’d have in New York or in London.”

Inside Banyan Tree’s Mandai Rainforest Resort. Inside Banyan Tree’s Mandai Rainforest Resort.

Dubbed Woodbine, the 17-acre spread in the affluent north Buckhead neighborhood has vast manicured lawns accompanied by horse stables and private lakes. Dubbed Woodbine, the 17-acre spread in the affluent north Buckhead neighborhood has vast manicured lawns accompanied by horse stables and private lakes.

Barrell Dovetail now comes in a new version Barrell Dovetail now comes in a new version