Last week the ISDA shared an article from road and track describing the Mercedes Benz 2022 S Class Guard Car. The Guard Car is the Mercedes-Benz designation for an armored vehicle.
Known by its full name as the Mercedes-Benz S680 Guard 4Matic. It is available with a long wheelbase. The sedan has been engineered to receive VPAM VR10 certification. VR10 is the highest certification ballistic standard available to civilians. VPAM means a complete vehicle was tested and certified. Basically, It’s the highest level with regard to ballistic protection for a civilian vehicle.
If you ever are in a position to be driving or purchasing an armored vehicle, we strongly suggest you get a firm understanding of the armored levels and the weight associated with them. Also, we recommend getting a solid understanding of how the armor affects vehicle performance.
As a refresher, we would suggest looking at the ISDA article titled the Five Vehicle Characteristics that Affect Safety and Security. In the article, we share that all vehicles have inherent characteristics that can decrease a vehicle’s performance and create a dangerous scenario for the principal if not understood and monitored. There are numbers that represent these vehicle characteristics; most can be found in the owner’s manual.
The Security Driver does not need to understand the science behind these numbers, but they need to know these numbers and how changes in these numbers affect the principal and passengers’ safety and security.
Links
Basic Outline of CG, Tires, Run Flats on Armored Vehicles
The Basics of Armored Vehicles and Their Use in Protective Services
Tire Pressure, Tire Contact Patch, and Armored Vehicles
The price is rather steep at $650,000
Under the hood of the Mercedes Guard car, you’ll find a version of Mercedes’s 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12, tuned to 604 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to all four wheels via an automatic transmission that had to be recalibrated, along with the steering, to accommodate the limousine’s colossal 9259-pound curb weight. All those armored panels come at a price, after all.
While on the subject of Mercedes, it is necessary and interesting to note that Mercedes-Benz has announced that by 2025, four years from now, Mercedes-Benz will start offering electric vehicles in all their models. The plan is to go to all-electric vehicles by the end of the decade. Mercedes added the caveat where market conditions would allow we are not sure what that means
We can’t help but wonder what effect if any, this will have on the secure transportation community. ISDA is working on a white paper about electric vehicles. We’ll let you know when it becomes available.
By the way, Mercedes is not the only OEM that builds armored vehicles – BMW and Audi also manufacture armored vehicles.