In a room inside the BMW Group Training Centre on the outskirts of Gurugram sits a BMW 7 Series. A spectacular vehicle that combines elegance and technology, it has won multiple awards in India and around the world. If you can afford the car, worth nearly Rs 2 crore, it certainly makes sense to rev up its engine and rock up to the lobby of The Oberoi in your city.
But the car that I was looking at was no ordinary 7 Series: With a price tag going upwards to Rs 6.6 crore before import duties, this was a bespoke 7 Series. It’s not built on the regular production line but put together by hand by highly trained engineers at BMW facilities in Dingolfing outside Munich. And the core of the car is a framework of one-inch-thick armoured steel and tough windows.
This is the BMW 7 Series Protection, which might look like a regular 7 Series until you open its incredibly heavy and thick doors. In fact, the event to showcase the car to mediapersons at the Group Training Centre ran slightly late because Special Protection Group (SPG) officials and commandos had come to check out the car.
The car is considered to have a vehicle resistance (VR) of 9 or 10—the highest possible. The thick armoured steel frame is designed to protect the passenger in case of an IED blast underneath the vehicle, and the thick windows, which are multiple layers of strengthened glass bonded together with adhesive, can stop a standard calibre 7.62 mm round dead in its tracks. The vehicle is also overpressurised inside and has its own air supply in case of a chemical attack. The fuel-tank? It has a special layer inside that makes it self-sealing, similar to those found on military aircraft.
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More impressive features
The 7 Series Protection is designed not just to protect the occupant in case of an attack but also take them to safety. Also, its special tyres can go on for pretty long. Despite weighing over a ton more than a standard 7 Series, the 4.4-litre eight-cylinder engine produces 530 horsepower and can get this close to a three-ton heavyweight from a standing start to 100 km per hour in just 6.6 seconds. While that isn’t supercar speed, it is like a Rugby fullback doing the 100 in just 10 seconds. And if the doors are damaged in the attack and the occupant can’t get out? No worries, each door has explosive bolts to get the ‘asset’ out promptly.
Top billionaires across the world are big buyers of such cars. While no car manufacturer ever releases the details of these customers, it is fairly known that such buyers are quite a bunch in number. BMW’s F Marty Revel, Vice-President, Asia-Pacific, BMW Protection Vehicles and Special Sales told me that there is a large market both for vehicles like the 7 Series Protection as well as the X5 Protection, which has a lower VR6 rating but is lighter and (slightly) cheaper as well. Several top diplomats and politicians in India are seen using the X5 for this very reason, although much like the 7 Series Protection, one needs a well-trained eye to discern whether or not the vehicle is a standard one. Revel adds that several companies also make ‘aftermarket’ armoured cars, but he says nothing beats his products because of the way the protected steel core is placed in the car.
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Top cars of the bigwigs
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s usual ride these days is a previous-generation Range Rover and Toyota Land Cruiser, he and President Droupadi Murmu have large fleets of vehicles for themselves and visiting dignitaries. Moreover, different vehicles are used on different occasions — at state functions, the PM travels in the back seat of a large sedan like the BMW 7 Series. The President currently uses a Mercedes-Benz Maybach, which is also used for top visiting dignitaries. Sources tell me that the President and the PM use vehicles made by different manufacturers.
During the recently concluded G20 summit, there was a shortage of luxury cars for the world leaders who were attending the event in Delhi. So, the government of India contacted Audi to bring in their A8 Security. Much like the BMW 7 Series Protection, the Audi A8 Security is designed to keep the occupant completely safe in case of an attack. Like BMW, Audi also showcased some large fleets of these vehicles recently, with cars having sirens and inbuilt speakers to facilitate communication with those outside the vehicle.
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Cars that protect you
During the recent Audi Ice Drive in Finland, I interacted with Markus Fiechtl, an Audi driver trainer. “The main thing is teaching drivers to not panic in any situation. For example, when a tyre bursts, most modern cars, let alone the A8 Security, can keep going in a more or less straight line. But a tyre burst is very noisy and dramatic and most drivers panic in such a situation.”
Of course, as Fiechtl points out, they also teach drivers how to escape any situation. “The idea is to teach them to never get into a spot where the vehicle’s abilities have to be put to the test.”
Most world leaders and top 500 corporate honchos travel in large convoys of such protected vehicles. Driver training, which takes place across the world in a multitude of environments and situations, also teaches those behind the wheel how to spot potential threats early on. “These guys are some of the best drivers in the world because these are really expensive cars,” said Fiechtl.
In case you were wondering, these vehicles are like their source vehicles when it comes to luxury. The next PM of India will also have the advanced seat massage function, fancy touchscreen controls, and a large dropdown screen on the 7 Series Protection that the regular 7 Series has. After all, the PM also needs a massage after a hard day’s work managing global geopolitics.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)