From now on, peerless luxury and the ultimate in protection are not mutually exclusive considerations for car-shoppers – at least, they're not if you can afford a Rolls-Royce Phantom. The Goodwood firm has today announced an armoured version of its epic limousine. Clad in thick extra-strong steel, packed with high-tech projectile-trapping fibre composites, and glazed with thickened glass and polycarbonate, the car has been engineered to Europe's VR7 protection standard. That means its doors can stop bullets, and its floorpan can withstand two grenade detonations without endangering its passengers. Rolls-Royce had to strengthen the Phantom's aluminium spaceframe chassis and suspension components in order to cope with the weight of all that protection; while a standard Phantom weighs about two-and-a-half tonnes, this one tips the scales at more than four tonnes. However, the car's 453bhp V12 powertrain remains unchanged. Rolls-Royce won't commit to a standard price for the armoured Phantom as, since all will be built via the marque's bespoke construction process, no two will be alike.
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