For the first time, Mercedes-Benz has extended its Guard armoured-car programme to an SUV - the M-Class, under the same principle of making all the protection material and systems part of the design from the beginning, so that all the luxury, safety and convenience features of the standard version can be retained - which is not always the case with aftermarket firms who buy 'soft-skinned' version and rip them apart to install the protection.
The Guard division at Mercedes-Benz starts with a raw bodyshell and builds in a complete coat of armour, including places such as the roof frame struts, locks, door gaps and exterior mirror mounts - areas where retrofitting would hardly be possible, let alone effective. They also use the protection elements to stiffen the shell so it can carry the extra weight without flexing.
The armour includes:
Special laminated glass with a polycarbonate layer on the inside to protect against shards.
Closely-fitted formed special steel throughout the body, especially the A, B and C pillars, the firewall and the roof, where it also reinforces the passenger compartment and increases structural rigidity.
CLOSE RANGE
The new M-Guard will stand up to a 44 Magnum bullet at close range from any angle and, when fitted with the optional armoured floor plates, a Bundeswehr DM51 hand grenade.
To cope with the extra weight the M-Guard comes as standard with an Airmatic air-suspension system with adaptive dampers, modified with stronger axle components and a special rear anti-roll bar.
Also standard are 20” AMG light-alloy rims with special run-flat tyres capable of carrying the nearly three-tonne vehicle for 30km at up to 80km/h, without any air in them at all.
DIESEL POWER
According to Mercedes-Benz the M-Guard is also the first armoured SUV to be offered with a diesel engine, in this case the ML 350 BlueTEC Guard, with the company's proven three-litre V6, rated in this application for 190kW and 620Nm.
For more conservative customers there is also the ML500 Guard with 300kW and 600Nm; either diesel or petrol derivatives are available with either left or right-hand drive.
Another advantage of building the armour into the raw shell is that very little interior space is lost; its payload of 560kg and load capacity of 2010 litres (with the rear seats down) is the same as the 'ordinary' M-Class and most of the equipment options in the M-Class catalogue, such as special leather trims, Comand Online and upmarket sound systems, can still be fitted.
TOUGH TESTS
The M-Guard has also gone through the test programme as the 'soft' version, including an endurance test lasting several weeks to determine bodyshell strength, bad-road simulations on special test rigs and road endurance tests of drive-train and suspension durability under extreme conditions.
It was also subjected to hot and cold tests, high-speed driving on test courses, ice and snow driving, and Euro NCAP crash tests.
The new M-Guard can be ordered now; prices in Germany start at €105 050 (R960 000) for the ML 350 BlueTEC Guard and €118 650 (R1 085 000)for the ML 500 Guard.