Mercedes-Maybach makes bomb-proof limo

LUXURY German marque Mercedes-Maybach has come up with a new ultra-luxurious armoured limousine designed to carry the world’s elite in style – the S600 Pullman Guard.

Measuring 6500mm long and weighing in at a whopping 5.6 tonnes, the S600 Pullman Guard is equipped with special steel and aramid components in the bodywork and underbody as well as bulletproof glass to protect its occupants against anything up to a small militia.

Officially, the vehicle is rated VR9 for ballistic protection, the highest rating a car can achieve. It also passes ERV 2010 for blast protection, the current standard enforced in Europe.

However, the average punter wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, as from the outside the Pullman Guard looks identical to its unarmoured sibling and loses none of its interior space.

The chauffeur-driven limousine seats up to four rear occupants in lavish style, with leather upholstery throughout, massive legroom thanks to the inward-facing seating layout, adjustable seats that feature calf rests, head restraints with extra cushions and increased headroom over the regular S-Class, and an electronically-operated partition wall.

It also has an electronically assisted door-opening function, as the extra weight in the body caused by the armour can make entering and exiting the vehicle a chore for more dainty VIPs.

Powering the five-and-a-half tonne behemoth is Mercedes’ 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12, which hauls the bomb shelter on wheels to an electronically limited top speed of 160km/h thanks to its formidable power output of 390kW/830Nm.

Those looking to invest in a S600 Pullman Guard will have to fork out top dollar when its starts rolling out in the second half of 2017, with Mercedes-Benz listing the armoured limo at just under €1.4 million ($A2 m).

All that protection adds a sizeable premium as the regular, unarmoured S600 Pullman costs a relatively paltry €500,000.

Mercedes says the Pullman will be highly customisable, and can be equipped with crowd control devices such as sirens, flashing lights, two-way radios, an emergency starter battery and a loudspeaker/microphone external communication system.

Daimler board member responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars sales and marketing Ola Kallenius said that the Pullman Guard was the pinnacle of VIP transport.

“Besides providing spacious seating in first-class comfort for high-ranking passengers, the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman is of course the embodiment of exclusivity at its highest level,” he said.

“One can sense the significance and greatness of it in every detail.”