Armored vehicles often look rugged and tough, but the folks over at U.S. Armor Group have decided to go a different way with their latest creation. It’s a bulletproof (depending on the caliber) version of the Lucid Air Sapphire, a model that is objectively one of the fastest cars in the world at 200-plus mph.
That’s an important combination because should one end up in any sort of firefight, getting away is an excellent strategy in terms of overall safety. Having a car that can out-accelerate, out-handle, and out-run cars that might be in pursuit could be the difference between life and death.
Let’s take a deeper dive into this armored electric vehicle, sort out what makes it unique, what options U.S. Armor Group offers for it, and highlight some potential concerns for those willing to spend $475,000 on this all-electric super-safe sedan.
USAG added what it calls lightweight laminated transparent armor in place of the windows. There’s no word on if it’ll roll down like a normal window but it does allegedly stop a .44 magnum round. In addition, the rest of the vehicle employs a lightweight composite reportedly 10 times as strong as ballistic steel but five times lighter.
As for options, the choices are near endless. Buyers can add electric-shock door handles, pepper spray dispensers, hidden gun ports, poison gas detectors, additional armoring to repel high-powered rifles, grenades, explosive devices, and more.
On top of that, this assault-repelling Lucid comes standard (again, for $475,000) with cybersecurity protection and a one-touch support button to contact U.S. Armor Group quickly when needed.
There’s no word from U.S. Armor Group about exactly how the tactical modifications affect the car’s range or acceleration, but here’s what the builder does say of its latest creation.
U.S. Armor Group has expertly balanced the power-to-weight ratio, integrating armoring and ballistic windows as the primary security upgrade, while also allowing the custom armored EV to still have incredible performance and range.
Does it provide any data to back those claims up? No, though it does go on to say that the Sapphire maintains its top speed of “over 200 mph.” It also claims that the base modifications add 385 pounds in total, so it would be similar to carrying two adults in the car at all times.
Would the top speed necessarily change? No. Would every other performance metric suffer? Yes, but how bad could it possibly be? Even if this armored Lucid ends up being half as quick to accelerate (surely, it won’t be that bad) it would still end up with a sub-five-second 0-60 time, which is quicker than most stuff on the road.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that U.S. Armor Group has built a fast armored car. In 2020, it treated a Ferrari 458 Speciale to similar equipment and claimed that the resulting car weighed just 67 pounds more than stock. It also claimed that the car retained its 0-60 mph time of 2.8 seconds.
Back then, the company (called AddArmor at the time) told outlets like Motortrend that “Heavy vehicles tend to be slow, and a slow target is an easy target.” That explains why it’s so willing to do the work necessary to make a car like the Lucid Air Sapphire an available option to its clientele.
Sure, I’ll take one. In dark blue please. 🙂
“Please wait and listen to details about our extended car warranty that we’ve been trying to reach you about…if you don’t buy it, you’re shit outa luck!”
So it has a range of 1 mile between charges? Ha ha
No ejector seat? ND/Crackpipe
Coming to a Heat styled bank heist near you: a quicker, quieter, greener getaway car. Protect your crew in style.
“If you are calling about an attempted carjacking, press 1. If you are calling because you are currently experiencing an insurrection, press 2. If you are a robocall scammer whose marks caught up with you, please die in a fire.”
Even armored vehicle manufacturers have to draw the line somewhere, right? 😉
Has anyone that wasn’t a dealer actually needed one of these?
In Canada, no. In the US, only if you’re a celebrity. In Mexico, if you can afford it then probably yes.
Maybe the car dealers/stealerships? Oh yeah, they get away w/ screwing over people legally so they don’t need it
I’ve got a good friend of mine who has two armored vehicles in Brazil. The owner of the company I used to work for gets a new bulletproofed Suburban every 5 years, but only because he was almost murdered in his car 16 years ago.
Kinda like when you tried to call 911 (before cell phones) but the landline was unplugged.
Sounds like B4 grade, which explains the fair weight gain, but it still seems on the low side, so I wonder if the armor is restricted mostly to the passenger space seeing as there’s a lot less mechanical stuff that needs to be protected in an EV or at least a lot less volume and fragile cooling systems to surround (and the battery, being under the passenger compartment makes it a 2 for 1).
But have they tried throwing a metal ball at it?
What if I just reach under the car and poke the battery with a screwdriver? Presumably the resulting uncontrolled fire will force the occupants out?
That’s what the grenade upgrade is for. Don’t know what they do for armor without it, but usually, grenade protection means being able to withstand a (though I’ve seen 2 sometimes) grenade—presumably frag—detonation underneath.
I’ll stick to being too poor to be worth kidnapping or robbing.
I can totally see a group of these showing up at the party, a bunch of agents grabbing their sunglasses from 5 different sunglass holders. Then just injecting people and dragging them away in the sizable-looking trunks.
But can it protect occupants from being dismembered? Surely that’s a valid concern since Lucid is funded by Saudi blood money….
Maybe, but the Lucid doesn’t actively try to dismember you like a Cybertruck does.
I appreciate the angle (honestly) but if we are all of a sudden worried about the morals behind something, we may no longer want to talk about automobiles generally.
This is the type of vehicle the Rezvani Tank/Vengeance/Arsenal pretend to be, actual subtlety, quality armor, and the speed to get you out of a tricky situation, not shouty, ungainly, slow, and with horrible visibility because of a half ton of TactiCool crap half-assedly applied to a JL Wrangler or Escalade
How then how do you shout out to all the other drivers on the road that you’re clearly more important than them?
With a $475,000 luxury sedan
But it doesn’t look like a $475,000 Rezvani that shouts out how much better you are than other people
It looks like that understated design that doesn’t scream “I’M BETTER THAN YOU!!!” It just walks up to you, looks at you, then throws you a bundle of 100’s.
An actual protective vehicle, as opposed to the automotive equivalent of “shoot me first” pants
“There’s no word on if it’ll roll down like a normal window but it does allegedly stop a .44 magnum round”
*Allegedly*.
Uh uh. I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”
Well do ya Sapphire?
I read that in Clint’s voice too. LOL