[ajmat]

The state government has purchased a high-end bulletproof Mercedes E -Guard car exclusively to ferry the President, the Prime Minister and heads of state during their visit to Bangalore.

The car has been imported from Germany at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. However, the government had to pay Rs 64 lakh with the Centre deciding to waive of customs duty. On Monday, the car was used to ferry President Pranab Mukherjee from the HAL airport to Raj Bhavan.

The car is custom built with protective features such as a special steel body that can withstand bullets and bomb attacks. The vehicle is also able to withstand handgun bullets of up to .44 Magnum in calibre at random angles of fire.

More here

I particularly like the usage terms to avail of the duty waiver - only heads of state can use this car, no political cronies or CM's etc can use it.

They exercised prudence in acquiring an E class as opposed to an S Class. i saw the car on Tues on Old Airport Road

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by ajmat

... the government had to pay Rs 64 lakh with the Centre deciding to waive of customs duty...

How generous of them. One rule for the goose and one for the gander.

[julupani]

I think this is a complete waste of resources. The total number of days the President, Prime Minister, or any visiting Head of State will be in Bangalore would not even be 10 every year.

And other than that, in case of the Prime Minister and President, a few cars from their security detail generally get air lifted to the location where they are needed. I remember a trip by the Prime Minister a year or so back to Bhubaneswar, and the PM's custom BMW 7-series, 2 X5s and 4 Safaris had come to ferry the PM around. In case of the President, a car from the Governors security group is generally used. If threat perception is higher, even one of the President's custom S-Guard vehicles is airlifted.

So in effect the only real need for this was for visiting head's of state. And even for visiting head's of state, if that country's security feels, they too generally fly in their own vehicles. Most bigger nations will do exactly that. So its only HoS of smaller nations, who most probably dont need the level of security this car provides who will get to use this E-Guard.

[Sahil]

I hope they atleast got the facelifted version. Knowing our lazy government, they wouldn't even know what generation model they are getting.

Most armoured vehicles used by diplomats are Mercs or Beamer, seldom do I see Audi's. Does Audi not make armoured cars?

[Ford5]

I just hope this doesn't end up being auctioned when some political nataka redux takes place in namma karnataka!

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by ajmat

The car is custom built with protective features such as a special steel body that can withstand bullets and bomb attacks.

What about a mine or IED exploding under the car?

[bsdbsd]

Politicians have become so think skinned, actually there is no need of any bullet proof cars. This is how our govt spends money.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Who is going to attack or blow up their cars?
Terrorists have bakras like us why would they take so much pain and risk of killing these people?
On the other hand if Govt. really wanted the Merc-E they should have had got the hybrid. My Dad some time back had told me that back in Bahrain the Minister (i.e the housing ministry) uses a hybrid E-class. My dad saw the car when the minister had visited one of his sites. I guess all other ministries there follow the same rule not sure about that though. Anyway there is a long way to go for such changes in our country. Why not just give them a bullet proof Aria?

[puchoo]

Firstly i am not sure of what my thoughts on the duty waiver are , i guess its for the good , if they had to waste money atleast they have saved some in the process.

On the below quoted point i am fairly sure that within sometime the car will end up doing duty for others as well.

Originally Posted by ajmat

I particularly like the usage terms to avail of the duty waiver - only heads of state can use this car, no political cronies or CM's etc can use it.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by puchoo

Firstly i am not sure of what my thoughts on the duty waiver are , i guess its for the good , if they had to waste money atleast they have saved some in the process.

Generally when the govt buys cars for any purpose, a large number of duties are waived. Because in effect the duty paid by the govt goes back to the govt.

That is why in many companies which sell lots of cars to the govt have DGSD rate contract, which is a special contract deciding the rates of cars when the govt buys them.

So the waiver of the import duty is not a big deal, its more like routine process.

[srishiva]

How often will this vehicle be used if its to be used only for head of states. Hope the driver drives it around without anyone to keep it working or to find if its still working?

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by srishiva

How often will this vehicle be used if its to be used only for head of states. Hope the driver drives it around without anyone to keep it working or to find if its still working?

Exactly what I was thinking. These tech laden Euro cars are notorious in draining the battery when the car is parked.

They may have to cut a deal with MB Bangalore to keep stock of stand by charged batteries in case the Prez deicdes to make a sudden visit after the long gap.

[Mpower]

With the added weight of the armour, I would think this mini tank would need a big engine to pull it along...esp when being chased by baddies.

They should've gone for the V8 or the diesel

[PPS]

Recently a VIP from another country made a visit to Mumbai. The Maharashtra government made him travel in a Bullet proof Bolero!

Looking at the embarrassing situation the government was caught in, they too have decided to place an order for a luxury bullet proof car.