[Leoshashi]

Lord S Presso in the fleet

[porsche_guy]

Saw this mammoth Mercedes GL on diplomatic plates today seemingly belonging to the Embassy/Consulate of Bhutan. I am really scratching my head as to what this is doing in a non-descript middle class residential neighborhood in a city like Vadodara! I never imagined seeing such a car on our roads.






That aside, it has Brabus badges but no body kit or anything. Perhaps it has mods internally or the user is a Brabus fan. Looks absolutely beastly in that spec, even more so when you see the 800 in front of it!

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by porsche_guy

That aside, it has Brabus badges but no body kit or anything. Perhaps it has mods internally or the user is a Brabus fan. Looks absolutely beastly in that spec, even more so when you see the 800 in front of it!

Both the possible cases are mind bogglingly weird. While the Gen 1 Mercedes GL Class (2006-2012) did have some pretty good engine options (4.7L V8, 5.5L V8 and a 4.0L Twin Turbo Diesel V8) I don't think there was ever a specific Brabus version for the pre facelift (2006-2008) GL Class which the car in the picture is and that raises the question.

1. If it's just a badge why does the Bhutan Embassy have a car that at the very least 14 years old with a fake badge of a performance tuning company?

2. If it does have brabus parts on the inside why does an Embassy of all places have a 14-16 year old custom tuned suv?

I know that these Embassies/Consulates have some pretty wild cars (Toyota RAV4, Ford Ranger Pickup, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, VW Transporter van, BMW 320i Wagon and Hyundai Genesis to name a few) but this one is just that little but extra weird.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by GreasyCarb55

2. If it does have brabus parts on the inside why does an Embassy of all places have a 14-16 year old custom tuned suv?

Bhutan is carbon negative. They are entitled to have some fun

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by porsche_guy

Saw this mammoth Mercedes GL on diplomatic plates today seemingly belonging to the Embassy/Consulate of Bhutan. I am really scratching my head as to what this is doing in a non-descript middle class residential neighborhood in a city like Vadodara! I never imagined seeing such a car on our roads.

Perhaps it’s a vehicle owned by an Honorary Consulate? I remember from reading earlier in this thread that Honorary Consuls can get such diplomatic plates on their private cars.

[//M]

Y61 Nissan Patrol GL from New Delhi

[//M]

Iveco Eurocargo

[Senna4Ever]

Originally Posted by acestormtrooper

Was in wandering around the city (Bombay) on a Sunday Morning. Came across a few of these consulate vehicles.
8th Gen Honda Civic

I have noticed that these newly registered vehicle of consulates are using yellow text with a blue background (Civic in below example even has HSRP plates). This is a departure from earlier format: black text on yellow background.



Old example below:


Does anybody have knowledge on this if there has been a change in rules?

Since black-on-yellow format is also applicable for generic commercial vehicles, it would make sense to distinguish these unrelated categories and have consulates plates align with embassy plates (i.e. blue background)

[//M]

Couple of sightings from New Delhi.

Y61 Nissan Patrol




Nissan Elgrand

[//M]

Toyota Kluger

[volkman10]

Sri Lanka’s HC to India Milinda Moragoda gets Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara.



Link

[Senna4Ever]

Originally Posted by Senna4Ever

I have noticed that these newly registered vehicle of consulates are using yellow text with a blue background (Civic in below example even has HSRP plates). This is a departure from earlier format: black text on yellow background.

Since black-on-yellow format is also applicable for generic commercial vehicles, it would make sense to distinguish these unrelated categories and have consulates plates align with embassy plates (i.e. blue background)

Looks like my question was already answered way back in June, 2017.

As per circular dated 22 June 2017, consular vehicles based outside Delhi shall use the yellow-on-blue format. Also inluded in 2018 Protocol Handbook of MEA below:



Related: Covered by Hindustan Times, 2017. Here's an interesting quote:

“Officials from the ministry of external affairs told us that they were getting complaints of how consulate vehicles were routinely getting mistaken for taxis and stopped by traffic cops because of the same colour number plate. In some instances, consular vehicles were issued tickets too. That is why they requested us for a colour change,” said a road ministry official.

A bit surprising that even after 5 years, there doesn't seem to be 100% adherence to this change.

Cheers!

[Arsenic]

Originally Posted by //M

Kia Opirus having embassy plates.

For those wondering, this car is still doing CC duties, and appears to be in quite good shape! Spotted by my friend:



Definitely one of the most unique imports in India

[Arsenic]

Nowadays most consulates have opted against importing cars from abroad, and usually just buy local-market cars. Here however is one unique import, the Toyota Previa:



Note: BHPian GT-090, a good friend of mine, has better photos, hopefully he uploads them here!

But for every one of these cool imports, you’ll get a million normal cars locally sold here. Seen below are the Nissan Magnite, VW Polo and first-gen Toyota Innova:

[//M]

Audi S5 from New Delhi