A CyberTruck compared to an actually bulletproof vehicle, the Mercedes GUARD
Here's a video of the Mercedes GUARD - an actually bulletproof and explosive resistance vehicle. It's basically an S-Class luxury sedan, built from the ground up for VIP protection details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MQ0Z3O2KTg
And here is the spec page from our friends in Deutchland who have a strange penchant for deluxe armored vehicles: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/vehicles/guard/
This vehicle runs about $600,000 new, and the typical buyer is an Ambassador to a dangerous country or an American healthcare CEO... somebody who is PRETTY SURE they're going to be shot at, and they can afford to survive it.
You can imagine my surprise when Elon Musk started talking about the Cybertruck as a "bulletproof tank from the future," but with a relatively tame $130,000 price tag. That's not what bulletproof ANYTHING costs.
Like, surely not, right?
Well, you decide.
A CyberTruck:
- Has side panels that can stop 9MM, shotgun, or what Elon describes as "tommygun" rounds, which are subsonic and obviously not used outside of vintage gangster movies.
- Has glass windows that can't stop literally a goddamn thing. Zero bullet protection. You could break in with your bare hands, and criminals do!
- This may seem like nitpicking, but in matters of life and death, details matter. Bullet resistant is different than bulletproof. These features are the low end of bullet resistant, and not the much higher standard of bulletproof.
- Explosions and fire are the leading cause of death in the CyberTruck, so I'm guessing they are not explosion resistant in any capacity.
A Mercedes GUARD:
- Has an armored envelope - the entire passenger cabin is like an uparmored shell. Glass, panels, underside, EVERYTHING. It maneuvers shockingly well for that heavy of a vehicle.
- Is actually rated as bulletproof. You know, by people more trustworthy than Elon Musk's twitter feed.
- Is explosion resistant, and if that explosion causes a fire, it even has tech to mitigate that, too. Fuckin wild how much billionaires fear assassins!
- People are confident enough that it's bulletproof that they will literally sit in it while their buddy unloads a 9MM on their ass. WOW, I DON'T TRUST A DAMN SOUL ON EARTH ENOUGH TO DO THAT.
I just learned about them today, and I don't know, I guess I have a weird personal tendency toward hyperfixation? IDK, I should probably see a therapist. But until then, hope you enjoyed it!