A lot's been said about the Cadillac that ferries the first family of the US and it has made its way to India, thanks to the fact that Mr Obama will be the chief guest at our Republic Day celebrations. The car is called the Beast and protects one of the most powerful people in the world - the President of the United States of America. Interestingly, there is no word of the Beast making an appearance at the Republic day parade.
While everyone plays the guessing game about the Beast's appearance at the parade, here's a list to tell you why it is probably one of the safest cars on the planet.1. It is based on a Cadillac DTS and is built by GM, but is the first Presidential limousine to not have a specific model name and hence is just called the Beast.
2. It sports an 8-inch thick body armour plating and 5-inch thick bulletproof windows which makes it impenetrable by bullets or hand grenades
3. The doors weigh the same as those of a Boeing 757 aircraft
3. The total weight of the car is 8 tonnes which is the same as an African bull elephant
4. It sits on shred- and puncture-resistant Kevlar-reinforced tyres with steel rims underneath so that the tyres are never damaged. These tyres are sourced from Goodyear
5. The fuel tank is covered with a special foam that prevents it from exploding
Also Read: Cars That Keep World Leaders Safe
6. It comes powered by a 6.5-litre diesel engine and the car tops out at 100Km/h, while mileage stands at 3.4Km/l which might make some environmentalists fume
7. The car's boot is used to store oxygen tanks and firefighting equipment
9. Its cabin also gets a lot of equipment, including a night-vision camera, pump-action shotgun and teargas cannons
10. Since the idea is to keep the first family safe, the car also carries a cache of their blood types
