The new-generation BMW 7 Series is making yet another world debut at this year's Geneva Motor Show - this time in the guise of the BMW 760Li High Security. Based on the top-of-the-range 760Li 12-cylinder, this fourth generation of BMW security vehicles complying with bullet-proof standard B6/B7 meets the highest and most demanding security requirements.
On the same occasion BMW is also presenting the 330i Security as a protection vehicle complying with the B4 bullet-proof standard. And from September 2003 the 8-cylinder BMW 745Li will also be available as a High Security model.
The BMW 760Li High Security meets the requirements of the German Federal Crime Office for security vehicles used by the German Government (B6/B7). It is therefore able to withstand even attacks with explosives or bullets of the armour-breaking 7.62x54R API calibre often used by terrorist organisations. To meet this supreme standard, the 760Li High Security has gone through elaborate firing and other tests conducted by a German bullet and firing inspection authority.
The simple fact that the vehicle did not require any improvements or modifications as a result of these tests clearly underlines the high standard of BMW security technology. Indeed, ongoing development of BMW's security concept on the 760Li High Security has led to an even higher standard of protection versus the former model which as such already met the highest security standards in the market.
Integrated steel armouring of the passenger cell forms the actual "shell" of BMW's High Security and Security cars. In the new BMW 760Li High Security this shell is made up for the first time of two layers of special steel, a hard outer and a particularly tough inner layer. Forming a distinct contrast to production cars retrofitted with security features, the special features on BMW's Security cars are built by the most highly skilled craftsmen in a process parallel to the ultra-precise process of industrial standard production and are integrated in the car right from the beginning. This ensures optimum protection also of areas and cavities such as the A- and B-pillars hardly reached when retrofitting such security equipment, thus reinforcing the entire structure of the car from the very beginning and preserving the complete interior of the vehicle with hardly any instrusion or damage. And last but not least, integrated steel armouring guarantees optimum security also on potential weak points such as body joints and seams, door seams, cable openings or the transition from metal to glass elements.
Despite an increase in weight by up to one tonne, BMW Security cars are everything but slow and sluggish - rather, they drive just as dynamically as a "standard" BMW. To provide this dynamic performance and handling, all relevant elements on the saloon are tailored to their specific purpose and are therefore dimensioned in accordance with the extra weight. The 12-cylinder power unit and the final drive in the 760Li High Security, for example, are modified to give the High Security 7 Series virtually the same powerful and fast acceleration as the "basic" model. The only "trade off" made for this purpose is an - acceptable - reduction of the car's top speed to 210 km/h or 130 mph. And it is interesting to note in this context that BMW tests all Security cars also on the Nürburgring race track.
Top priority is given in BMW's Security cars not only to bullet-proof security, but also to driving safety. Precisely this is why these special vehicles have all the attributes of their regular production counterparts when it comes to active and passive safety. And it is also why BMW's security philosophy does not allow any concessions in terms of motoring comfort. As an example, the doors on the 760Li High Security open just as wide and generously as on the "normal" model, providing most convenient access to and exit from the car. And inside the High Security vehicle comes with virtually the same comfort features as the "regular" 7 Series, including iDrive control.
High security vehicles such as the BMW 760Li High Security effectively prevent attacks and attempts at the occupants' lives. Primarily, therefore, they are used to protect representatives of the state and government as well as high-ranking industrialists, mainly in industrialised countries in the West, in the Middle East, and in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Security cars in the B4 category, on the other hand, such as the BMW 330i Security, offer protection primarily against attempts at theft and robbery as well as other kinds of criminal action such as carjacking becoming an increasing risk in some regions. Accordingly, the armour on the BMW 330i Security is able to withstand calibre .44 magnum revolver ammunition as well as bullets fired from other handheld weapons. Vehicles of this type are often purchased for private use, for example in Latin and South America.
BMW customers purchasing a Security or High Security car obviously attach great significance to absolute discretion. Precisely this is why BMWs of this kind hardly differ at first sight from their regular production counterparts.
A further equally obvious point is absolute discretion on the groups of customers buying such vehicles as well as comprehensive service provided the world over. This service even includes BMW's own pool of approximately 40 High Security and 100 Security cars made available to the customer at short notice and at nearly any location.
It is important for BMW that Security cars do not go to the wrong people - either as new or pre-owned. This is why BMW offers purchasers of such cars a buy-back option covering Security vehicles up to 7 years old. Following a thorough technical inspection at BMW's Dingolfing Plant, where all BMW High Security cars are built in the first place, these vehicles then go into BMW's car pool or are sold as pre-owned Security cars to special, selected customers.
Text and photos courtesy of BMW AG
