| Range Rover Sentinel | |
| Type: | Range Rover (L405) |
| Manufacturer: | Land Rover |
| Production: | 2019 |
| Transmission: | 8-speed automatic |
| Engine: | 5.0 L 3800NaN0 supercharged AJ Gen III V8 (petrol) |
| Sp: | uk |
Until 2023, British manufactured cars had always been used as prime ministerial cars by the prime ministers of the United Kingdom. The cars currently used are armoured, custom built Range Rover Sentinel supercharged 5.0 litre V8 models and armoured Audi A8L models.[1] [2]
Prime ministerial and ministerial limousines are operated and administered by the Government Car Service, an executive agency of the Department for Transport, and stored and maintained at 10 Downing Street. The cars are driven by officers from the Metropolitan Police Royalty & Specialist Protection branch (RaSP), skilled in protection convoy, anti hijack and evasive driving skills.[3]
They are escorted by three to four unmarked Range Rover or Ford Galaxy models and at least nine to ten RaSP officers, with the ability to utilise motorcycle outriders from the Metropolitan Police Special Escort Group to aid in the swift travel and protection of the motorcade.[4] [5]
In December 2022, the UK government announced that it would purchase armoured Audi A8L models for use by ministers, on the basis that no UK manufacturer could meet revised security specifications.[6] Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was first seen to use an Audi A8 model in July 2023, although the Range Rover Sentinels are still in use by the Prime Minister.
Many details are classified, but the current Range Rover Sentinel models are estimated to have cost up to £400,000. They feature a number of security features, including a 13 mm explosive resistant steel plate underneath the body, titanium and Kevlar lined cabins, armoured windows with bullet resistant polycarbonate toughened glass, and run flat tyres. The bodywork can withstand hits from 7.62mm high-velocity, armour-piercing rounds.
The cars are also equipped with an independent, self contained oxygen supply, to safeguard occupants in the event of a chemical or biological attack.
The vehicles used to be classed as B7 level but under the new system, called VPAM, they are classed as VPAM9, and are understood to be capable of withstanding the blast of 15 kg equivalent TNT, and sustained attack by a variety of other armour piercing weapons.[7] [8] [9]
Since the early-1980s, when Margaret Thatcher switched from the Rover P5 models that had been in use since the 1960s, all prime ministerial cars have been from the Jaguar XJ range of the day, or its Daimler-badged variant.
The 2000 model replaced a British racing green XJ40 model, built for John Major, which gained international media attention when it bore Tony Blair to Buckingham Palace on the day after the 1997 general election. For the first few months of his premiership in 2007, Gordon Brown reverted to the previous prime ministerial car, a navy blue (X308) model purchased in 2000, before starting to use the silver model. A British racing green X308 took Gordon Brown to Buckingham Palace on 6 April 2010 to request the dissolution of Parliament, but it was the 2000 model that took him on his last ride as Prime Minister.
David Cameron arrived at 10 Downing Street following his appointment in a silver 2010 Jaguar XJ X350 model, but a new X351 Sentinel model was delivered on 13 May 2010.[10]
The X351 model had a 5.0 litre supercharged petrol engine producing 375 bhp, with a top speed of, and is capable of reaching from a stationary position in 9.4 seconds, slower than the original due to the substantially greater weight of the vehicle.[11]
On 12 August 2011, one of the previous Jaguar XJ Sentinel fleet was damaged when its driver dented the car on a high kerb in Salford, although the car was able to be driven away.[12] On 17 June 2020, Boris Johnson was in one of the vehicles when a crash occurred due to a protester running in front of the motorcade.[13]