Do you have a lot of money, a lot of power and a significant number of enemies? Are you tired of rolling in the same armored BMW 7 series that every other Wall Street executive gets delivered to the office in? Want to try something new, but with a similar German pedigree? Good news, then, since Audi has recently announced their A8 L Security armored limousine. A bullet and bomb resistant version of the full sized A8 L, the car comes with an array of standard and optional features that would impress even Bond, James Bond.

First there’s the armoring, which meets or exceeds VR 7 standards for bullet resistance and was further tested for explosion resistance. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I wouldn’t worry about being shot up by an AR15, AK-47 or M1A assault rifle. You can laugh at any handguns, but I wouldn’t want to be in the car if someone let loose with a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. As for roadside bombs, you’re probably safe in North America and Audi claims the A8 L Security will withstand an attack from a military hand grenade.

It takes an additional 450 hours to armor the A8 L Security, and Audi’s stats are pretty impressive. The doors, for example, weigh nearly 200 pounds apiece, and that’s not including the bulletproof glass (which adds nearly 670 pounds, including the windshield and rear window). The armor used in the interior weighs nearly 1,600 pounds; despite this, the A8 L Security is the lightest vehicle in its class. As you may have guessed, it takes a big motor to haul this kind of car around, so Audi chose to drop in their 6.3 liter, W12 engine, good for 500 horsepower and 461 ft lb of torque. It’ll get the car from zero to sixty in under 7.3 seconds and has a top speed (limited by tires) of 130 miles per hour. All things considered, fuel economy isn’t bad, with Audi estimating that the A8 L Security will get 17.4 MPG on the highway.

Perhaps the coolest part about the car is the high security option list. Want an emergency exit, complete with exploding screws? How about an onboard fire suppression system, emergency fresh air system (with onboard oxygen tanks), cabin smoke extractor, armored communications module (complete with spare battery) or additional fuel tank armoring? They’re all on the build sheet, and Audi will supply customers with just about anything else they’d want, for a price.

Deliveries of the A8 L Security will begin in late summer, but Audi hasn’t released pricing. If this is something you need, I don’t suppose that you’ll care much what it costs, since you have staff to take care od details like that.

Source: Audi USA