Growing number of privilege few go for armoured cars

Many rich luxury and premium car owners in Africa including Nigerians and South Africans; two of Africa’s economic powerhouses are becoming more and more passionate about safety especially in the wake of growing insecurity in the country and the recent protests that took its toll on the economy.

While such safety features such as ABS are standard and given in most modern the cars, they are taking their interest in safety to the next level by searching for armoured cars despite the fact that they can carry a somewhat hefty price tag.

This is reflected in the fact that armoured cars currently rank third in the most searched keywords on most motoring or automotive related website like the AutoTrader which is the largest digital automotive marketplace in South Africa.

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Accordingly, it provides unparalleled insight into carbuying patterns in the country. Checks reveal that, the most popular keyword was “sunroof”, followed by “classic” and then “armoured”.

Armoured cars are popular all over the world and the same applies to both Nigeria and South Africa and are readily available. While information around the type and sophistication of armouring are in most cases readily available in some countries, such is not the same in others due to the secrecy surrounding the identity of the real owners of such very expensive metal found commonly among the corrupt political class and other privileged few in the society.

According to Michael Broom, general manager of MMI Armoured Cars (one of the country’s largest suppliers of armoured luxury cars) in South Africa, the local market for these vehicles is growing.

According to him, “There has been steady growth over the last three years though as potential owners have become more informed, vehicle choice has expanded, and we have largely managed to keep the costs the same. We estimate that, in the luxury market, 120 to 150 new armoured cars are currently sold or converted annually in South Africa,” he notes’’.

While budget cars are hardly ever armoured (the cost of armouring far exceeds the base value of the vehicle) and sports cars and convertibles are not suited to armouring, the most popular vehicles for armouring are the sport utility vehicles (SUVS). And, according to statistics, the top three makes listed with “armoured” as a feature are BMW, Mercedes-benz and Toyota.