In-Depth: Armored Vehicle Business Booms Around Rio’s Sugarloaf

By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – If you’re on the streets of the Brazilian metropolises of São Paulo, Brasília or Rio de Janeiro, you can hardly escape the predominance of small pseudo-crossovers.

Regardless of whether it’s Fiat, Renault, Volkswagen or Ford – the newer vehicles especially, despite their manageable dimensions, are incredibly self-confident and not always delicately decorated with rustic-looking planks.

Here a mounted spare wheel, there a gray underrun protector and then again rough sills and a few centimeters more ground clearance, together with off-road tires.

A Brazilian wants to show that he’s into SUVs, even if he can usually hardly afford a real off-road vehicle.

If a crossover is to be seen, then it is a Duster, sold here under the Renault logo, or the compact Ford Ecosport, which has long made the leap from South America to Europe.

Meanwhile, there are always aged jalopies, from the old VW Bus to the Beetle to the exotic local beach cruisers from Gurgel.

And once an Audi A4, a BMW 5 Series or a Toyota 4Runner clears the streetscape, then the vehicles are mostly armored. Even though the dark windows force you to look very closely: cars in the mid-range price or higher are rarely on the move without armor.

Robbery is still the Order of the day

Although the situation has improved somewhat in recent years, robbery in Brazilian traffic is still the order of the day. That’s why private individuals or hotels protect themselves on their tours with armored vehicles.

If an armored BMW X3 or an Audi Q5 might still hit the road, it looks quite different on a dark, globally popular model like the Toyota Corolla or a Mitsubishi Pajero TR4.

The cars are usually not armored from the factory but have been subjected to a massive security treatment at one of the countless retrofit companies.

Armored plates and Kevlar and Aramid layers ensure that the occupants in a suitably secured vehicle under fire from pistols and light rifles need not fear for their lives.

After all, most models withstand ammunition of caliber 38 or even a 44; that suffices for the dangerous everyday life at the traffic lights or the underground car park.

Manufacturers such as Shell Armored Vehicles, DuPont or TAG have their hands full and can hardly keep up with the orders.

Not only private citizens and business people, though, but also politicians and the police are increasingly traveling in armored cars in the Brazilian cities. Hotels in the higher price range transport their guests from the airport to a meeting or their own main entrance in a secured vehicle, just like larger companies that hardly leave their employees exposed on the street anymore.

Automakers are Barely Profiting from the Trend

The armored vehicle business in Brazil is bigger than anywhere else in the world: around US$250 million turnovers each year.

Automakers are barely profiting from the trend, with few people able to afford a premium model in the 210-million-resident country.

Only those come mostly with factory armor, which goes up to the fire protection class VR-10, with which high-ranking politicians and judges are protected in luxury sedans and heavy SUVs.

Audi is one of the few automakers to offer its mid-range SUV, the Q5, as a special shielded version for the markets in South and Central America.

With its armor, it meets the requirements of the fire protection class VR4, and the crossover was additionally certified for the class NIJ III-A common in South America.

Whoever wants more must resort to the luxury model A8 as their heavy tank, which competes with models such as the Mercedes S-Class.

The majority of the middle class, however, drives models such as the Toyota Corolla, Ford Mondeo, Kia Soul or the Hyundai Azera. And more and more people have a normal production model armored later in one of the countless companies.

“With us, it costs between R$50,000 (US$12,500) and R$75,000,” says the managing director of one of the large tank companies that convert vehicles mostly without major advertising in the outskirts of major cities such as São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

The entire job takes one to two weeks – depending on the order queue. More than two-thirds of all vehicles will be converted in greater São Paulo; not always professionally.

For many customers, their own security is worth the equivalent of US$13,000 to 16,000 for retrofitting. More popular than ever are vehicles that don’t stand out in traffic.

Toyota Corolla Most Commonly Armored Car

No wonder the Toyota Corolla has become the most commonly armored car in South America over the last few years. The securing of windows, doors, and panels pushes the 1,400 kg Japanese car just to the 1.6-ton mark.

“While the suspension tuning is adjusted by us, the control systems and the brakes can easily handle the extra weight,” explains one of the technicians in the large hall.

The demand for armored cars worldwide is similarly large only in Mexico, where countless armored vehicles also populate the streets in the major cities.

For years, the auto market in Brazil has been going downhill. But the recession seems to have reached rock bottom in 2016 and since then it’s also going uphill for the armor companies.

“When the market was so bad, the demand for armored vehicles on the used car market rose sharply,” says the managing director of the armor business in the metropolis of São Paulo, “we did not lag behind.”

Many also had used models retrofitted with armor. The matter looks a bit different for large hotels and exclusive car rental companies, which offer their car service more and more often in secured vehicles.

While hotels tend to wrap it in a mantle of silence and do not even tell their guests they’re being chauffeured in armor, the car rental companies are on the offensive because the demand from foreign visitors to drive in an armored car is greater than ever.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error