Posted on August 25, 2010 - by Venik

Jaguar’s XJ Sentinel uncaged at Moscow motor show

Jaguar’s latest saloon, the XJ Sentinel, has been designed as the ultimate armoured luxury limousine

It can withstand sniper fire, roadside bombs and possibly even unhappy ex-wives, who may attempt to claw at the passenger door after receiving their divorce papers. Today, Jaguar – the Indian-owned but British-based carmaker – chose Moscow’s international motor show to unveil the ultimate vehicle for the security conscious oligarch – the XJ Sentinel.

The car is similar to Jaguar’s existing luxury XJ model but includes a special assassination-proof “armoured cell”. Jaguar says the saloon, which comes with reinforced steel and Kevlar (used in body armour) is tough enough to withstand ballistic fire – a useful lifesaving feature given the number of businessmen ambushed in the Russian capital while waiting at traffic lights or stuck in Moscow’s notorious jams.

The sports vehicle is also grenade-proof, while another feature is its bulletproof windows – the rear ones don’t open, but the driver can wind his down a fraction or talk to the outside world via an intercom. Even shooting at the car’s tyres is likely to frustrate your conscientious Moscow contract killer: the tyres work even when flat.

Jaguar said today that it was confident the car wouldn’t just appeal to super-rich Russians but would also sell well in the UK, Europe, China and the Middle East. It refuses to disclose the cost of car but says it already has several orders, with manufacture and engineering taking place at Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich assembly plant in Birmingham.

“People who buy this car like to have total security, whether in the house, yacht or aeroplane,” says Jonathan Rayner, Jaguar’s XJ brand manager. Engineers had rigorously tested the 3.3-tonne saloon’s safety features, and had even blown it up using a generous 15kg of explosives, he revealed.

“It was really quite incredible. If you look at the film we took you can see the shock wave. The car was a bit battered, but survived.” he said.

“We did the tests at secret defence locations. There aren’t many places in the UK where you can fire rifles, detonate TNT and chuck grenades around. It’s not the kind of thing you can do on the test track,” said Rayner.

“The XJ Sentinel is the ultimate armoured luxury limousine. It offers governments, security organisations and private individuals the highest levels of security, with advanced design, refined performance and a beautifully crafted cabin,” Mike O’Driscoll, MD of Jaguar Cars, said.

The Sentinel’s doors are so heavy that opening them today required a bit of effort – or, of course, you can get your cap-wearing driver to do it for you. Jaguar is throwing in security training for chauffeurs as part of its three-year package. The car also comes with a winter mode for gripping Moscow’s icy streets in sub-zero temperatures. There are, of course, luxury leather seats and wood veneer panelling. The Sentinel also has drive-away locking – with the doors locking automatically as soon as you whizz off.

Assassinations of high-profile individuals driving on the streets of Moscow are not the stuff of TV drama but an all too-real occurrence. In September 2008, Ruslan Yamadayev, a former MP and bitter rival of Chechnya’s pro-Kremlin president Ramzan Kadyrov, was gunned down at traffic lights just outside the British embassy in central Moscow. He had halted his black Mercedes at a red traffic light.

Last November, Shabtai von Kalmanovic, a wealthy concert promoter and former KGB spy, was shot dead in the passenger seat of his luxury Mercedes in what police said was a professional hit.

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