Wegist blog: See The New Land Rover Bulletproof SUV

Range Rover Sentinel

A view of the Range Rover Sentinel; Land Rover's armored version of the luxury SUV.

For most people, car safety means airbags, stability control, and crash-avoidance technology that help spare us and our passengers from serious injury.

But, for a select few

like heads of states and corporate CEOs, those features would barely scratch the surface.

To address that, Land Rover has put together a bulletproof, explosion-proof road tank called the Range Rover Sentinel. From all appearances, the Sentinel looks like your everyday six-figure luxury SUV. This one, however, might actually save your life.

The Range Rover Sentinel is a product of Land Rover's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) unit, the same division that produces insanely fast versions of its standard SUVs.

To produce the Sentinel, the automaker takes the top-of-the-line, $140,000 Range Rover Autobiography model and turns it into a fortress with:

A reinforced passenger cell that can withstand armor-piercing incendiary bullets
Super high-strength steel that can take blasts from hand-grenade explosions
A tamper-proof exhaust system
Self-sealing fuel tank that prevents leaks if the tank is punctured
A backup battery and run-flat tires

Another view of the armored Range Rover Sentinel, the first bulletproof vehicle designed in-house at Land Rover.

Naturally, all of that reinforced steel and glass makes the already heavy Range Rover (standard weight: more than 5,000 lbs) even heavier. But, engineers have retooled the Sentinel's suspension to compensate for that. The 510-horsepower V8 helps, too.

There's no point in dodging armor-piercing bullets and grenades if you can't haul this beast out of harm's way.