Automakers take aim at armored car market

As concern for personal security has risen after Sept. 11, armored vehicles are in increasing demand.

©Associated Press
March 28, 2003

DETROIT -- Cars that can be hermetically sealed or withstand shots from a .44-caliber Magnum are no longer the stuff of James Bond movies -- they are a commodity in greater demand following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. So Detroit automakers are creating cars specifically for the limited but expanding armored vehicle market.

Ford Motor Co.'s new Lincoln Town Car BPS -- the BPS stands for Ballistic Protection Series -- will be available in late summer for $140,000. The armor-covered vehicle is designed to provide protection from powerful handgun and high-powered rifle blasts.

Ford said its prospective customers are corporate executives, politicians, government agencies, private citizens and leasing companies.

"It's a small segment, but it's growing and it's profitable," spokesman Todd Nissen said.

GM's Cadillac division said it expects to introduce an armored DeVille by year's end. Details on pricing are not yet available.

Both companies say they began working on armored cars before Sept. 11, 2001, but Americans' heightened sense of personal security since then and the expanding market have given them a greater impetus to produce the cars.

Mark Bentley, the product marketing manager for Lincoln's Town Car, said he and other executives who were pushing the project encountered numerous skeptics until the terror attacks.

"Suddenly they said, 'We understand the need for this vehicle,' " Bentley said.

Until now, armored vehicles in the United States were products of what are known as after-market companies, businesses which take assembly line cars and customize them with armor and other features. Popular choices for armoring include the Ford Crown Victoria, Chevrolet Suburban and, more recently, the Hummer H2, made by GM.

The cost of armoring a car can range from $30,000 to $300,000 on top of the sticker price, depending on what features are included.

Leaders in the overseas armored car market include Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which introduced the 760Li High Security at this month's Geneva International Motor Show. The car can be hermetically sealed and supply passengers with oxygen in the event of a gas attack.

However, a BMW spokesman said the company no longer sells armored vehicles in the United States because of limited demand and costs associated with meeting federal motoring regulations.

Mercedes-Benz sells an S500 sedan in the United States that can withstand shots from a .44-caliber Magnum. Spokesman Rob Allan said the German automaker sells fewer than 100 of the $156,000 cars in the United States annually, most of them to business executives concerned about becoming targets of random violence.

To equip its DeVille, Cadillac will work with Scaletta Moloney Armoring Corp., which began making limousines in the 1970s but switched its focus to armoring in the late 1980s because of growing global demand.

Chief executive Joe Scaletta said his Illinois business has increased some 40 percent since Sept. 11. Much of his work is for the U.S. and foreign governments; private-sector clients include celebrities, CEOs and people who transport valuable cargo such as jewelry.

That kind of customer "may not be a millionaire, but he may be carrying a million dollars worth of jewelry," Scaletta said.

Market statistics in the armored segment of the auto industry are hard to come by because companies that outfit vehicles are ultra-protective of clients' identities. But Ford, using proprietary sales information from glass manufacturers, estimates that total worldwide sales have grown 20 percent in each of the past several years and reached 18,000 in 2002.

To start, Ford plans to make 300 of the ballistic Town Cars, which will be sold by a limited number of Lincoln dealers. Production will take place at the Wixom, Mich., manufacturing plant; the cars will then be shipped to International Armoring Corp. in Utah for outfitting.

Ford will use a heavier limousine chassis, which is capable of handling 7,500 pounds of total weight, for the BPS cars. A regular Town Car weighs some 4,300 pounds; the armored vehicle will weigh 6,200 pounds, which the company estimates will decrease fuel efficiency by 20 percent.

The cars will be loaded with lightweight bullet-resistant plates of ballistic steel. Underneath, a thick blanket of synthetic fibers will provide limited blast protection.

Yet the vehicles will look like any other new Town Car on the road.

"The first line of defense for anyone at risk is discretion," said Lincoln spokesman John Jraiche. "We've developed this product with the right blend of luxury, security and discretion."

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