At a glance, this may seem like a regular, run-of-the-mill Toyota Fortuner. But underneath the seemingly normal exterior, this SUV is wrapped in 900kg of armour capable of withstanding 350 rounds from an AK47 and armour-piercing sniper bullets, as well as blasts from hand grenades. And it’ll manage the school run, too.
It’s the finished product from armoured-car specialists Streit Armoring headquartered in Canada. The company retrofits protection to cars across the world, and in India, for the government and private customers to defend VVIP owners from attack. You’ll be hard pushed to spot any differences between a fully armoured version and a standard model.
If you’re considering cladding your daily driver in armour, though, there are some prerequisites. For a start, not every vehicle is eligible. The smallest engine that can cope with the added weight of armouring is a 3.0-litre turbocharged diesel unit, which means that the most popular cars to fit the bill in India are the Fortuner and, higher up the pecking order, the Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series.
You also need clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs, or the police, to acquire an armoured car, because of understandable concerns that it may end up in the wrong hands.
Then there’s the cost. Prices start at Rs 25 lakh to armour a Fortuner, and rise to Rs 1.6 crore for a fully-clad Mercedes-Benz S-class. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz build their own armoured cars in Germany, but the process of importing them to India can take up to 90 days, and the tax levied on them makes prices soar to around Rs 8 crore for one vehicle.
However, get the armour retrofitted in India – with the same grade of parts used by Mercedes and BMW, imported from Germany, Australia, Beirut and the UAE – and it will cost Rs 3.5 crore for the car and the armour.
