As growing up, the American president’s fully armoured Cadillac was a thing of fascination. It was nothing short of a tank with a rather subtle body shell. But most most of all, the fact that it was inaccessible to others, made it even more admirable. However, if you thought the American’s got everything good, then let us correct you. Our Prime Minister also enjoys one of the sweetest rides around known as the BMW 7-Series 760Li that has been specially armoured for the PM’s security. While our current Prime Minister loved his fully armoured Scorpio during the election campaign, he has now been upgraded to the Bimmer with the armoured bells and whistles.
The vehicle ferrying around Mr. Modi needs to meet the stringent security norms set by the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the BMW 7-Series managed to tick every box in the list. The 760Li Security Edition is fully compliant with VR7 grade of ballistic protection and parts of it comply with VR9 grade of protection as well. The fully armoured 7-Series looks just like a regular vehicle from the outside, but gets armour plates made out of incredibly strong ballistic steel fitted on the body work as second skin.
The cabin is capable of turning into gas proof chamber in case of a gas attack and can internally supply artificial oxygen stored in tanks. The cabin also protects the occupants from fire, explosions and allows access to the outside world without leaving the car with an array of communication options. The vehicle is designed to withstand attacks from explosive devices or armour-piercing weapons and even automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
The fully armoured 7-Series gets run flat tyres that can travel up to 80 km/hr, in case of an attack. It also gets an on-board fire fighting system, an emergency exit, thick bullet proof windows and a self sealing fuel tank that cannot explode under any circumstance. Powering the 760Li is a 6.0-litre V12 engine that puts out 544 HP of power at 5250 RPM and 750 Nm of torque at 1500 RPM, paired to an 8-speed transmission. The car is capable of doing 0-100 km/hr in 6.2 seconds, despite the massive weight and achieves a top speed of 210 km/hr.
Currently the PM’s convoy has half a dozen BMW 7-Series 760Li cars including decoys, surrounded by a dozen BMW X5 SUVs. The 7-Series was chosen as the official PM vehicle in 2003 by the then NDA government, replacing the Hindustan Ambassador which failed to meet SPG security norms. While the fully armoured BMW might be for the privileged few; if you feel half as important as Mr. Modi, you can always order a bullet proof Mahindra Scorpio for yourself online HERE.
