Capitalising on surging demand for armoured protection since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Ford will begin offering a “Ballistic Protection Series” version of its Lincoln Town Car.
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According to Reuters, from the outside the armoured version looks deceptively like other Town Cars, the ubiquitous vehicle of choice in the US ‘livery’ (chauffeur-driven) business but, with a price tag starting at $US144,995, it’s about $100,000 more expensive and features a reinforced body that can withstand rounds from high-powered or high-velocity assault rifles and submachine guns.
Richard Bondy, a former Secret Service agent who works for Ford, described the rolling fortress to Reuters as “a car that has a substantially higher ballistic level” than any other carmaker has offered commercially in the United States.
Initially, the report said, Ford plans to sell about 300 a year but Bondy said worldwide sales of armoured cars have grown about 20% annually over the past few years, to about 20,000 vehicles and he and others at Ford clearly see potential beyond 300 sales a year.
At first the car will only be offered in the United States, according to its marketing manager, John Anderson. But he reportedly said it would soon be introduced in parts of the Middle East, followed by Mexico, Europe, Asia and elsewhere in Latin America.
Reuters said the Lincoln has higher levels of protection than an armoured version of the Cadillac Deville that rival General Motors plans to roll out later this year, and that alone could attract potentially unsavoury customers like mobsters and drug lords.
But Bondy, who reportedly sees buyers including everyone from soccer moms to “someone that feels that they have risk because of the kind of business or country that they run,” said Ford had no intention of screening people who shop for the vehicle.
Reuters said the car has run-flat inserts to ensure it can keep moving even when the tyres have been shot out.
“They obviously are trying to prey on people’s insecurities, which are rampant these days because of the terrorism and that’s their game,” marketing analyst Jack Trout of Connecticut-based Trout & Partners told Reuters about Ford’s move.
Michael Robinet, an auto industry analyst at CSM Worldwide, told the news agency that armoured cars made good sense as a niche product for Detroit’s embattled carmakers.
“Companies like Ford and GM are looking at all facets of the market. They’re looking at opportunities … They may be able to put some heads of state into these types of vehicles,” he said, according to Reuters.
