Mercedes Benz announced the addition of a new car to its family of bulletproof high-level protection cars known as the ‘Guard’. The car is based on the Mercedes M-Class, and comes in two ML350 and ML500 variants. They meet the requirements of protection level VR4.

That means the vehicle resists ballistic attacks, fire, and explosions. It is certified to withstand Magnum .357 and .44. caliber as well as DM51 hand grenade. To achieve this level of protection, some serious structural work has been done on the car; including reinforcing elements such as the roof frame struts, locks, door gaps and exterior mirror mounts.

Mercedes calls this integrated protection as it goes way deep into the car’s bodyshell. Apart from that the windows all around are armored using polycarbonate layers, perfectly tight-fitting formed special steel is used throughout the body, in the A-, B- and C- pillars and the firewall and roof, as well as the passenger compartment and increases structural firmness. Run-flat tires are also included.

So naturally, the Guard version of the M-Class is a pretty heavy bit of kit, weighing nearly 2.8 tons. To cope with that, Mercedes has revised its Adaptive Damper System (ADS) and used stronger axle components.

As for the power, the ML 350 BlueTEC Guard diesel offers 258 hp and 620Nm of torque, and the ML500 petrol 408 hp and 600Nm. The ML350 goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.4 seconds, while the ML500 does it in 6.5 seconds. The top speed for both models is limited to 210 km/h.

Prices start at €105,050 for the ML350 and €118,65 for the ML500.