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PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump will get a new Cadillac on his first day in office.
But it won’t just be any Cadillac. This one costs a cool $1.5 million and is bomb proof.
Cadillac will roll out an all-new version of the “The Beast” (what the Secret Service affectionately calls it) for Trump’s inauguration.
The overall shape — and five-inch-thick bulletproof body and glass — will largely be the same as Obama’s limousine, but it will have Cadillac’s new corporate nose.
Most importantly, it will have a few key changes to further increase its security — and its manoeuvrability — since President Obama’s presidential limo arrived in 2009.
Trump’s new limo revealed. Picture: Supplied
In 2011, an older version of the presidential limousine (not Barack Obama’s latest model) got stuck on the crest of a steep driveway as it was leaving an official event in Ireland.
The president was not on board, but the incident left the Secret Service a little red faced. It also gave Cadillac an idea for the latest model.
Because top level armoured limousines are so expensive (there are seven grades, in case you didn’t know), they often spend more than 10 years on government fleets and get passed down to vice presidents and/or airfreighted to foreign events.
In total there are usually about a dozen “presidential” US limousines.
Developed at a cost of $15 million over 10 years, Trump’s limo will have the best of the best.
Many people don’t realise it (because it looks like a car) but the presidential limo is actually based on a heavy duty truck frame and powered by a massive turbo diesel engine, also from a truck.
Bulletproof ... Barack Obama in his motorcade during the G20. Picture: Peter Wallis.
It needs the extra grunt because “The Beast” weighs at least 4.5 tonnes (4500kg).
Inside, there’s room for two upfront (a driver and passenger) and then in the back there are three seats facing rearward and two seats facing forward.
In addition to encrypted telecommunications equipment, “The Beast” (and most other top level security cars) has its own oxygen supply in case of a chemical attack.
Reports out of the US claim the Trumpmobile will have a “tear gas cannon” and “rocket propelled grenades”, however these are unconfirmed.
But there is a chilled compartment for cool drinks. And “The Beast” will also carry a supply of Trump’s blood type — in case the ambulance that travels with the convoy can’t get to him in an emergency.
Donald Trump will upgrade wheels after he is sworn in as the President of the United States of America. Picture: Don Emmert.
Cadillac has won the contract to supply US presidential limousines for almost 30 years; Ford’s luxury brand Lincoln dominated prior to that.
The president’s “limo” has not been based on an actual car since 2001. As security requirements have increased, the vehicles have been built from the ground up.
For security reasons, the vehicles are never sold. Earlier examples have ended up as museum pieces.
Some of the most famous presidential limousines — including ones that transported John F Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan — are on display at Ford’s museum in Detroit.
More recent models are stored — and eventually destroyed, taking their secrets with them.
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