Now, car lovers can lift their limos straight into their penthouses!

London, August 14 : A team of architects in German capital Berlin have designed heavy-duty lifts for apartments that can lift cars up to the penthouse, and thereby help avoid troubles like thefts and floods.

They expect that their design will particularly interest people who love their cars so much that they wish they could have their wagons in front of their eyes all the time.

"Cars have become design statements, an expression of your lifestyle," Times Online quoted Johannes Kauka, the managing director of Topos, which is completing the pioneering apartment block in a run-down area of Berlin, as saying.

"So why not integrate them properly into your life?" Kauka added.

Cities like St Petersburg and Cape Town, where car theft is one of the major problems, have shown interest in the Berlin model.

This model is also intended for export to cities where houses are made to close to floodable rivers that underground parking is impossible.

If the project is a success it will be taken to Brussels, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi, where there are plans to construct car-lofts with space for several limos.

So far six of the eleven car-loft apartments in Berlin have been sold, including one to the chief designer of an international motor company.

The whole process of approaching the house, entering the apartment and parking the car takes two minutes.

What may particularly interest celebrities is that they can use an electronic system to open the lift door and take them to their floors, without having to get out of their cars to press a button.

ANI