Types of limousine cars in Dubai: sedans, SUVs, vans and stretch limos explained

What does limousine mean in Dubai?

The textbook limousine is a large chauffeur-driven car with a partition between the driver and the passengers. Dubai uses the word more widely. RTA licenses the work as Passenger Transport by Luxury Motor Vehicles: companies that carry passengers in luxury cars under an RTA permit.

So a Lexus ES 300h meeting you at DXB counts as a limousine in Dubai. So does a Mercedes-Benz V-Class taking 6 people to a hotel on Palm Jumeirah. Neither car is stretched.

Three rules from RTA’s activity card shape what you get:

• The tariff must be higher than the taxi tariff.
• The company keeps to the vehicle categories, numbers, types and maximum time in service that RTA approves.
• No car carries passengers before the company signs its agreement with RTA.

What the permit means for you as a passenger is set out in what an RTA limousine licence covers.

The five types at a glance

Passenger and bag counts below come from Assure’s fleet list. Bags are counted with every seat in use, and partner cars are confirmed car by car when you book.

Type	Models	Passengers	Large cases	Typical use
Executive and first-class sedans	Lexus ES 300h, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and S-Class, BMW 7 Series	3	2	Airport runs and meetings for 1 to 3 people
Luxury SUVs	GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade, Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz G-Class	3 to 6	2 to 3	Families and small groups with luggage
Vans and minibuses	Mercedes-Benz V-Class, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in 13 or 19 seats	6 to 19	3 to 6	Groups, roadshows and event days
Ultra-luxury	Rolls-Royce Ghost, Phantom and Cullinan, Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Maybach S-Class	3	2 to 3	Weddings, VIP arrivals and photo days
Stretch limousines	Chrysler 300, Lincoln Town Car, Cadillac Escalade and Hummer H2 stretches	8 to 12	2	Birthdays, bridal parties and New Year’s Eve

For every other question about choosing a car, start with the chauffeur car guide.

Executive sedans, from the Lexus ES to the S-Class and 7 Series

A sedan seats 3 passengers in the back and takes 2 large cases in the boot. It fits one traveller or a couple going from DXB to Dubai Marina. That run is about 37 km by road, 42 minutes without traffic.

Sedans come in two tiers:

• Business class: the Lexus ES 300h, a hybrid in Assure’s own fleet, takes 2 large cases and 1 cabin bag. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class takes 2 of each and is available through our partner network, subject to availability.
• First class: the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series are both in Assure’s own fleet. Each takes 2 large cases and 2 cabin bags. The S-Class in the fleet has the long-wheelbase body.

Pick first class for a board member, a VIP guest or a long drive. Dubai to Abu Dhabi is about 139 km, roughly 1 h 30 without traffic. How the two flagships differ in the rear seat is covered in S-Class vs 7 Series for chauffeur use.

Luxury SUVs with room for 6 and their luggage

An SUV earns its place when the group or the luggage outgrows a sedan. The two 6-seaters are in Assure’s own fleet:

• GMC Yukon: 6 passengers, 3 large cases and 2 cabin bags.
• Cadillac Escalade: 6 passengers, 3 large cases and 2 cabin bags.

Two more come through our partner network, subject to availability. Both are listed for 3 passengers:

• Range Rover: 3 large cases and 2 cabin bags.
• Mercedes-Benz G-Class: 2 large cases and 2 cabin bags.

The Range Rover and G-Class suit 1 to 3 people who want an SUV for the look or the ride height. For 6 people with 4 large cases, the Yukon and Escalade run out of space before the V-Class does. Seat-by-seat counts for every model are in chauffeur car seats and luggage capacity, and the full list is on the luxury SUVs page.

Vans and minibuses, from the V-Class to the 19-seat Sprinter

Vans are limousines too, in RTA’s sense. They carry the largest groups, and the 13-seat Sprinter takes the most large cases of any car on this page.

Model	Passengers	Large cases	Cabin bags
Mercedes-Benz V-Class	6	4	2
Kia Carnival	6	3	2
Citroen SpaceTourer	6	3	2
Hyundai Staria	6	2	2
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, 13 seats	13	6	6
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, 19 seats	19	3	6

All six are in Assure’s own fleet. Among the 6-seaters, the V-Class takes the most cases. The 19-seat Sprinter takes half the large cases of the 13-seat version, because the extra rows use the luggage space. A group of 19 landing at DXB with a case each needs a second vehicle for the bags. The 6-seaters are listed on our van and people-carrier page.

Ultra-luxury cars for weddings and VIP guests

Every car in this group is available through our partner network, subject to availability. Each seats 3 passengers.

Model	Large cases	Cabin bags
Rolls-Royce Phantom	2	2
Rolls-Royce Ghost	2	2
Rolls-Royce Cullinan, an SUV	3	2
Bentley Flying Spur	2	1
Mercedes-Maybach S-Class	2	1

These are booked for the couple’s car at a wedding, a VIP collected from DXB Terminal 3 or a photo day. Partners own the cars, so ask for the model year and colour of the exact car before you confirm. All five are on the ultra-luxury and exotic page.

Are stretch limos and Hummer limos still around?

Partners still list them, for parties and bridal groups. Assure’s fleet list has 45 models, and 4 are stretch limousines, all through partners, subject to availability:

• Chrysler 300 stretch: up to 8 passengers.
• Lincoln Town Car stretch: up to 8 passengers.
• Cadillac Escalade stretch: up to 10 passengers.
• Hummer H2 stretch: up to 12 passengers. This is the “Hummer limo”.

With every seat taken, each has room for 2 large cases and 2 cabin bags. A stretch is for people, not airport luggage.

Three of the four base cars are out of production. The Hummer H2 was built from 2002 to 2009, and the last Lincoln Town Car on 29 August 2011. Chrysler ended the 300 on 31 December 2023. Since RTA sets a maximum time in service for each operator’s cars, ask for the model year of the car booked for your date. Models, seats and occasions are on the stretch limousines page.

How is a limousine different from a Dubai taxi?

The two differ in price rules, booking and what waits for you at the airport.

	Taxi	Limousine
Price	The RTA meter. At Dubai airports, Dubai Taxi charges AED 20 to start, or AED 25 for a van, then AED 2.62 a km.	RTA requires a tariff above the taxi tariff. Dubai Taxi’s own limousines charge AED 3.90 a km at the airports. A chauffeur company quotes the trip or the hours.
Getting one	A street hail in a safe area, a taxi waiting at a landmark such as Dubai Mall, or the Bolt, Careem or S’hail app	Dubai Taxi limousines cannot be hailed from the road. Chauffeur companies work by booking.
The car	The next taxi in the queue	You choose the type and the model when you book
At DXB arrivals	You walk to the taxi rank	A pre-booked chauffeur waits in the arrivals hall with your name on a board

Per kilometre, Dubai Taxi’s airport limousine rate is about 49% higher than its airport taxi rate. For 1 or 2 people with light bags, the taxi rank is usually the lower fare. App classes such as Uber Lux are compared with both in chauffeur, taxi, Uber or Careem.

What is a Dubai Taxi limousine?

Dubai Taxi runs a limousine fleet next to its taxis, in three groups:

• Limousine: Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, Genesis and Range Rover.
• Electric limousine: Tesla Model S and Model X.
• XL limousine: Mercedes-Benz Vito, Mercedes-Benz Viano and Toyota Previa.

You book on 800 88088, the DTC app, Bolt, Careem or Uber. Or you join the queue at a limousine location: Dubai Mall, Dubai Hills Mall, Atlantis, Royal Atlantis, Global Village, Dubai World Trade Centre, DXB Terminals 1, 2 and 3, DWC and Port Rashid. Every location charges AED 3.90 a km except Royal Atlantis, at AED 5 a km.

It is a one-way metered ride from a rank or an app. A chauffeur company sends a named car to a set time and place, meets you inside arrivals and can stay with you by the hour. How that booking works is in our guide to hiring a chauffeur in Dubai.

How to choose the type for your trip

Count people and large cases first, then pick the occasion.

Your trip	Type that usually fits	Why
1 or 2 people from DXB to a Palm Jumeirah hotel, 37 km	Executive sedan, such as the Lexus ES 300h	3 seats and 2 large cases
A board member or VIP guest	Mercedes-Benz S-Class or BMW 7 Series	First-class rear seat, both in Assure’s own fleet
A family of 5 or 6 with 3 large cases	GMC Yukon or Cadillac Escalade	6 seats and 3 large cases
6 people with 4 large cases	Mercedes-Benz V-Class	4 large cases and 2 cabin bags
7 to 13 people on a day trip to Hatta, 109 km from DXB	Sprinter, 13 seats	6 large cases and 6 cabin bags
14 to 19 people	Sprinter, 19 seats, plus a second vehicle for luggage	3 large cases with every seat in use
The couple’s car at a wedding	Rolls-Royce Phantom or Ghost, Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Maybach	Partner network, subject to availability
A party of 8 to 12	Stretch limousine	Side-facing seats, partner network, subject to availability

Send the date, pickup point, passengers, large cases and cabin bags on WhatsApp, and the quote comes back there. For occasions, hourly hire and VIP arrivals, see our limousine service. Every model is listed on the Assure fleet page.

Where does the word limousine come from?

Limousine comes from Limousin, the French region around Limoges. English first records it in 1902. The usual explanation is the hood: early limousine bodies had a closed roof over the passengers, like the raised hood of the cloak worn in Limousin. The driver sat outside in an open compartment.

Chauffeur is French too, from chauffer, to warm up. On the French railways a chauffeur was the stoker who fed the fire.

The stretch came later. In the early 1920s, the Armbruster company of Fort Smith, Arkansas, built an extended-wheelbase, multi-door vehicle for Jordan Bus Lines.