The South African firm Armormax unveiled the bulletproof Jaguar I-Pace. It is equipped with light armor and high-grade ballistic glass, making it bulletproof. The performance and strength are not compromised.
Totally only 200 kilograms (440 lbs) of weight was added from the armor conversion. Armormax’s I-Pace has a B4 ballistic protection rating, which means it can withstand attacks from handguns and shotguns up to a .44 caliber. Armormax’s work does not void the I-Pace’s Jaguar warranty. Both companies worked together on the project, with Jaguar providing plenty of technical support. Armormax’s Managing Director, Grant Anderson, stated, “This project presented a great opportunity to challenge ourselves and expand our capabilities. We immediately involved the technical team at Jaguar Land Rover South Africa to assist and they were fantastic in helping us understand the intricacies of this electric vehicle. We are proud to say we built this car to our high standard despite the challenges and left the base vehicle very much unchanged.”
It’s currently not clear if the Armormax I-Pace will be available outside South Africa, although the answer is probably yes if you are wealthy enough. Armormax did not provide pricing for its I-Pace as it varies significantly depending on the amount of armor and gadgets you want (yes, that’s right – Armormax also does smoke screens and electric-shock door handles). However, the company’s website suggests most builds cost in the region of $30-90k plus the donor car.
Jaguar Models
The rate of year-over-year decline slowed down, but the results are negative for several consecutive quarters right now – actually, only one out of the last 15 quarters was positive. The issue affects the whole Jaguar Land Rover group (part of Tata Motors), and the main explanation is production constrains related to semiconductor shortages.
Jaguar Land Rover noted that demand remains strong, with global retail orders again setting new records in the quarter – about 205,000 units as of September 30 (up 5,000 compared to June 30). Of course, the most important thing for us is the sales results of the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE, which is the first and only electric Jaguar. Here the results are pretty weak, as global retail sales of the I-PACE decreased in Q3 by 25.4% year-over-year to 1,972, which is the lowest level since the launch and early ramp-up of production in 2018. The Jaguar I-PACE’s share out of the total Jaguar volume also decreased to 11.4% (compared to 13.7% a year ago). Considering stronger and stronger EV competition with multiple new model launches all over the world, it will be more difficult every day.
