- Sunday, May 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AFTER the special ‘Air India One’ aircraft, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has now upgraded his vehicle. The latest car for the country’s top leader is a Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard armoured vehicle which has been upgraded from Range Rover Vogue and Toyota Land Cruiser, a report said.
According to carandbike portal, Modi was seen riding the armoured Maybach recently when he arrived at Hyderabad House in Delhi to welcome visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The car comes with VR10-level protection and costs Rs 12 crore (£1.1 million).
The Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard comes with the highest armoured protection available on a production vehicle. It can resist bullets and assault from AK-47 rifles. The car also has an explosive resistant vehicle (ERV) 2010 rating as it is capable of protecting occupants from an explosion of 15 kilograms trinitrotoluene from a distance of just two metres.
The windows of the vehicle get polycarbonate coating on the inside and the under-body has been heavily armoured to save the occupants from direct explosion. In case of a gas attack, the car’s cabin gets a separate air supply. In case the car gets a flat tyre, it will be able to run for a quick getaway.
The car’s fuel tank is coated with a special material that seals the holes automatically in case of an attack. The material is the one that Boeing uses for its AH-64 Apache tank attack helicopters.
The car has a luxurious interior with a seat massager and the rear seats have been repositioned to allow the passengers to sit further back with an enhanced legroom.
The request for a new car is generally put up by the Special Protection Group (SPG) which is responsible for the prime minister’s security. The SPG identifies the security requirements and decides whether the top leader’s vehicle needs an upgrade. The SPG orders two identical cars with the second car used as a decoy.
Earlier this year, the car used by Indian president Ram Nath Kovind was upgraded to the Mercedes-Benz S-class Pullman Maybach Guard.
As the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, Modi used a bulletproof Scorpio made by Indian auto giant Mahindra. After taking over as the prime minister in 2014, he used the BMW 7 Series High-Security Edition. Later, it was upgraded to a Land Rover Range Rover Vogue and a Toyota Cruiser.
