Bombing along

THE perils of London’s roads do not usually extend beyond potholes and traffic jams. But a new car showroom due to open on July 30th in the city’s West End will offer the capital’s ultra-wealthy residents luxury vehicles that will protect them from deadlier threats: bombs, gunfire and kidnapping. The venture, jointly run by Ares, an Italian firm that fits out fancy cars to make them even more sumptuous, and Streit, a Canadian armoured-car company, hopes to tap a global trend for armouring the smartest motors. Its arrival also says something about London’s new residents.

Protecting the rides of presidents and other VIPs is nothing new. Franklin Roosevelt’s limousine was fitted with armour plating and bullet-proof tyres in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Nor is it novel to modify expensive vehicles fresh off the production line. The mega-rich have long sought to personalise new cars with a fresh paint job or interior. But with the exception of the Aston Martin driven by James Bond in “Goldfinger” in 1964, which sported a retractable bulletproof screen, marrying luxury and safety is a new phenomenon.

The fashion is spreading. Mark Burton of International Armoring, an American firm that fits out cars, reckons the worldwide market for deluxe armoured road-cars has grown to around 7,500 vehicles annually, from just a handful a few years ago. London is a good place to sell them, according to Dany Bahar, Ares’s boss. Buyers from Russia, Africa and the Middle East, the main customers, are frequent visitors, if not part-time residents.

Armouring a flash motor is becoming more popular, but not because the world is more dangerous. Rather, demand has grown as more people join the ranks of the super-rich and can afford to minimise threats, whether they be real or imaginary. And even if the dangers facing an outspoken oligarch on Britain’s roads may pale in comparison with the dangers of driving in Russia, he may simply have become accustomed to riding in a car capable of withstanding a bomb or hail of bullets.

The beefier security doesn’t come cheap. INKAS, another Canadian company, charges around double the list price to modify a Mercedes S-class. Mr Bahar reckons that, depending on the level of protection and interior bling required, he might charge between £300,000 and £1m ($470,000-$1.6m) for a bespoke Range Rover that would normally cost £100,000. But the drawbacks are fewer than they used to be. The use of modern, high-tech materials means that a car that a few years ago might have put on three-quarters of its original weight, severely affecting handling, may now add only a few extra pounds, making armouring less of a brake on performance.

Most fitters agree that armour is becoming something of a status symbol among celebrities and other well-to-do petrolheads. Trent Kimball, the head of Texas Armoring, an American company that specialises in protecting fast cars, says that 5% of his projects are for rich and famous people whose threat levels simply do not justify the armour plating. (To show how safe his bullet-proofing is, Mr Kimball volunteers to sit in vehicles as they are shot at by a colleague—see video.) Mr Burton thinks the proportion is even higher, with maybe a quarter of all cars bought as acts of automotive one-upmanship. This means that vehicles which may not be appropriate for modification get the treatment anyway. He admits reluctantly to armouring a Ferrari for a good customer.

It may be that Ares and Streit can profit from this trend. British celebrities may seek to ape their American counterparts. The only drawback is that genuinely nervous buyers value discretion. Indeed, armoured vehicles are barely discernible from production models. Anonymity is one of the best ways of maintaining security—but a bad way to promote a new business.