Mercedes has announced its latest vehicle intended to keep heads of state, royals, and oligarchs free from gunshot wounds and other nasty weapons-related injuries: the Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman Guard. Based on the mega-opulent Maybach S600, the vehicle meets VR10 protection standards according to Directive BRV 2009 Version 2, which is an incredibly long way to say that this incredibly long vehicle protects its occupants from steel-core ammo fired from an assault rifle.
-Note that this Maybach is distinct from the regular-ol' S600 Guard announced a couple of years ago, with eight inches of additional wheelbase and all the extra-luxurious features one would expect of a Maybach. While the bulk of the car's equipment isn't spelled out in Mercedes' release—and the world's elite can probably order whatever their heart desires—you can expect to find acres of soft leather, reclining and massaging rear seats, and some throw pillows, among all the other delights that push the non-armored Maybach's price past $200,000. Mercedes does say the car has "innovative voice amplification," which we take to mean it has some sort of an external loudspeaker that allows you to ask that people stop shooting at you, please.
-There's no talk of powertrain upgrades, either, but the standard car's twin-turbocharged V-12 pushes out 523 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque, which should be sufficient to propel the heavily bolstered Maybach Guard out of harm's way. The protective bits include pieces from a special steel that are inserted between the unibody and outer body panels; they're overlapped at key points to "provide comprehensive ballistic protection." The now-fixed windows are thicker and coated with polycarbonate in the inside to protect occupants from any splintering causes by attacks.
-Beyond ballistics, the Maybach S600 Guard also protects from explosives both along the side and under the passenger compartment, earning an ERV 2010 rating, which certainly sounds impressive, despite the fat that the test criteria for determining this rating "are not in the public domain." Between this and the BRV 2009 rating, the Maybach S600 is claimed to offer the highest levels of protection available among non-military vehicles.
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The Maybach Guard joins the G500, GLE, and S-class in Mercedes' lineup of armored vehicles. The price of protection in this case? A cool €470,000 before taxes, or $518,000 at today's exchange rates.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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