Bulletproof Tesla is the fastest armored car in the world

Within luxury car sales exists a niche for armored cars. It's not out of the ordinary for a big Mercedes or BMW to get outfitted for maximum security, as customers needing ballistic protection still need to get around in comfort. However, there just haven't been armored Teslas — up until now.

International Armoring Corporation calls its armored Tesla Model S P100D the fastest bulletproof car in the world. That is certainly a strong selling point, as an armored vehicle needs to be able to get up and go when a situation arises. An unmodified P100D gets to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, and while the company doesn't actually mention how quickly its armored version accelerates, the car doesn't have that much extra weight to haul around. The Armormax Tesla  has only had 550 pounds of bulletproofing added, which is just 11 percent of the weight of an unmodified car. The company says this has been managed through the use of synthetic fiber laminate instead of fitting thousands of pounds of ballistic steel inside the car, and that all the original functions along with the stock appearance have been kept.

There is no mention of the car's driving range being affected, but that will surely be the case. Still, as an example of how much this technology has advanced, compare the Tesla's bulking-up to a car from years ago, the personal Peugeot 205 GTI of a French businessman: Done in 1990, the armored small hot hatch ended up with a curb weight of 3,000 pounds when the original car weighed less than 2,000. That must have weighed down the 130-hp GTI's chuckability a lot.

The armored Tesla offers protection from high-powered rifles and handguns, termed B4-, B5- and B6-level protection. This specific car was ordered by a Middle Eastern businessman.