Every petrolhead has the same daydream: a shed in a quiet corner of the world, a dust sheet, and something mental & improbable underneath it. A reimagined air-cooled icon, a lightweight roadster from a tiny British workshop, a coachbuilt oddity that never should have passed a committee. In the Gulf, that daydream has always had a logistics problem. The money and the passion are here in abundance, but the official route to many of these cars is not.
That is the gap North 9 Dubai has just walked into. Launched on 22 October 2026, North 9 calls itself a UAE-born automotive house, headquartered in Dubai, set up to find, partner with, and bring specialist brands to collectors across the GCC. It is built on three pillars, Heritage, Performance, and Design, and it has made a confident entrance for a company that has yet to name a single car.
What Is North 9?
North 9 is not a carmaker, and the release says it wants to move beyond conventional distribution. It is a curator: a house that picks brands with “a distinct identity, a clear point of view and a story worth telling”, then represents them in a region where many are not officially available. The wording points toward marques that restore and reimagine iconic vehicles and build highly bespoke cars the region has not seen before.
The faces are Danial Mausoof, founder, and Nael Afieh, founding partner. Mausoof also founded Retro 9, an outfit that describes itself as an automotive house rather than a traditional restoration business and pitches handcrafted Porsche commissions and backdates through a waitlist. Whether Retro 9 sits inside North 9 or beside it has not been confirmed, so treat the family resemblance as an observation, not a corporate structure.
Why The GCC Is Ready For A House Like This
The pitch leans on a number. The brand says the UAE classic car market is forecast to reach USD 1.83 billion by 2032. It names no source, but the figure matches a projection from the research vendor Credence Research, which puts the market at about USD 1.23 billion in 2023, growing at 4.5 per cent a year. That is a paid-report forecast with no published definition of “classic”, so read it as a mood indicator, not a ledger.
The better evidence is on the auction block. RM Sotheby’s first Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week sale in December 2025 grossed USD 85.06 million, a Middle East record, with a 1994 McLaren F1 topping the sheet at USD 25.3 million. Collectors here clearly spend, and RM Sotheby’s has since brought two unicorn Porsches to Icons of Porsche in Dubai. What collectors in the region have lacked is an easy, local way to meet the small builders making the cars they actually daydream about.
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What “Unavailable” Really Means For A Buyer
North 9 says many leading specialist brands remain unavailable through official representation in the GCC. That is a company claim, and it needs unpacking. Some niche names do have local partners already: Caterham appointed RMA Motors Dubai as its official UAE retailer in February 2025, and Onyx Concept coachbuilt Bentleys are sold through a Dubai dealer. Others, such as Singer, reach the region through commissions, and one of its Porsche 911 reimaginings, the Abu Dhabi Commission, went under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s.
For a buyer, official representation is the difference between a car and a project. It means, there’s warranty paths, parts, servicing, and a name to call if the dashboard lights up. A grey import can be glorious, and it can also be a long conversation with a customs desk. If North 9 delivers genuine, supported representation for small-batch builders, that is a real service. If it only introduces buyers to the factory, it is a very well-dressed matchmaker.
What We Still Don’t Know
Quite a lot. No partner brand has been named, though the release promises brand reveals over the coming weeks. The flagship launch event is set for Dubai on 25 November 2026, with the venue yet to be announced. North 9 has not disclosed its sales model or any showroom location, and there are no prices, specifications, or delivery timelines yet.
The Verdict, For Now
North 9 has picked good timing and a sensible lane. The region’s collector base is real, the auction results are loud, and the Gulf has plainly got an appetite for the rare and the handbuilt. Now, all eyes are on the official launch coming up in November, and we’re watching with keen interest.
