Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in news a few years ago when he wore the Maybach sunglasses. Now, the man has got the Mercedes-Maybach S650 armored vehicle as a part of his convoy. Modi was spotted in the new Maybach 650 armored first at Hyderabad House while welcoming President Putin of Russia. The vehicle was spotted again in the convoy of Modi recently.
Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard
This is the new facelifted model of the Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard that came out in 2019. It gets the VR10 protection level, which is the highest-ever protection provided in a production car. The price? Well, it is undisclosed. Since it is made-to-order, customers are required to choose the customization and features that highly affect the price of the final product.
However, to give you an idea, Mercedes-Maybach launched the S600 Guard in India last year with a price tag of Rs 10.5 crore. The S650 can cost more than Rs 12 crore. Since the Special Protection Group or SPG that takes care of the security of the important people of the country including the Prime Minister does not need to pay any import taxes, the final price can be much lower as well. We just cannot assume the price of this Maybach 650 but it sure costs multiple crores.
VR10 Protection in Mercedes-Maybach
Like the S600 Guard, the S650 Guard also offers VR10 protection level according to Directive BRV 2009 Version 2. It is the highest protection offered in any civilian vehicle around teh world. The VR10 rating means that the body and the windows can withstand hardened steel core bullets.
It also gets Explosive Resistant Vehicle (ERV) 2010 rating. This allows the car to protect the occuopants from blast of 15kg TNT from a distance of two metres. The rear seats are repositioned to allow the passengers to sit further back in the car and increase the legroom.
The Maybach S650 Guard gets special integrated steel between the outer skin and structure that further enhances the protection. The windows of the limousine get polycarbonate coating on the inside and the under body gets heavy armors to counter direct explosions as well.
The cabin can be filled with fresh air to fend against gas attack as well. The fuel tank is coated with a special material that seals the holes automatically after a hit. It is made up of the same material that Boeing uses for its AH-64 Apache tank attack helicoptors.
The heavy armored car draws power from a s 6.0-litre V12 twin turbocharged engine that generates a maximum power of 523 Bhp and peak torque of 830 Nm.
SPG chooses cars for Prime Minister
According to the officials, it is not the prime minister who can make requests for different cars. But the SPG asseses the situation and threat level to choose a car. Prime Minister Modi has various convoys including a Range Rover, Land Cruiser and BMW 7-Series. This is the newest convoy that we have spotted. There are two Maybach S650 Guard in the convoy and one of them is used as a decoy.
