Bangkok - With street violence and assassination attempts on
the rise in Thailand, automobile companies have found a lucrative new
growth market - bulletproof cars - news reports said Thursday.
This week Germany's BMW AG launched its X5 Security Plus model in
Thailand, marketing the vehicle as the first to offer protection
against AK-47 assault rifle attacks while Ford Motor Co has offered
two bulletproof cars to the deputy prime minister in charge of
security, The Nation newspaper reported.
The BMW launch comes on the heels of Friday's assassination
attempt on Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of last year's protests in
Bangkok, whose Toyota van was riddled with more than 100 bullets from
AK-47, M16 and HK33 automatic rifles.
Sondhi, miraculously, survived the attack with minor head injuries
from bullet fragments, but his car was wrecked and his driver badly
injured.
Sondhi was the most recent public figure to be attacked in his
car.
Prime Minister Abhisit and his deputy prime minister in charge of
security, Suthep Thaungsuban, on were attacked April 7 in their car
by red-shirted anti-government protestors in the beach resort town
Pattaya, where Thailand was scheduled to host a regional summit on
April 11-12 that had to be cancelled when demonstrators swarmed the
meeting's venue.
Abhisit's car was again attacked by protestors at the Interior
Ministry on April 12, shortly after he declared a state of emergency
in the capital, but by then he had switched to a Mercedes Benz S600
Guard model - boasting 500 steel parts - that withstood a bombardment
of stones, iron poles and plant pots and whisked him from the scene.
Abhisit, who previously favoured BMWs, is now sticking to his
Mercedes for getting around town, The Nation said.
He is not the first Thai prime minister to favour the model.
Fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who claimed to be the
target of several assassination attempts during his controversial
two-term premiership between 2001 to 2006, ordered three bulletproof
Mercedes at 25 million baht (694,444 dollars) each.
Apparently, demand for bulletproof vehicles is not limited to the
country's leaders.
According to The Nation, sales of bulletproof cars reached 18,000
units in 2008, compared with 4,000 eight years ago.
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