According to the Korea Economic Daily, Hyundai is building the country's first domestic bulletproof car based on the upcoming Equus (pictured above). Hyundai embarked on the project for protocol purposes for key government figures including South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The project reportedly started after an informal request from the government.
"Most of the heads of other car-manufacturing states use bulletproof cars made in their own countries. It doesn’t make sense that the world’s fifth largest auto-manufacturing country is still using foreign-made bulletproof cars, and that is why Hyundai is working on the project," stated an industry source. However, Hyundai declined to confirm this was the case, the newspaper said.
As of now, only a few automakers from around the world, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Cadillac, are capable of building bulletproof cars. Currently, the South Korean President utilizes a Mercedes-Benz S600 (W221) Pullman Guard and BMW Security 760Li, having 5-10 units of each in the fleet.
[Source: Digital Chosun Ilbo]