Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a brand new Mercedes-Maybach S650, which comes with the highest level of armoured protection. The car comes as a replacement to the Range Rover Vogue and the Toyota Land Cruiser that he used until recently.

The PM was first seen using the Mercedes earlier this month at his Hyderabad house when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin on his India visit. As per a report, the model can apparently “withstand hardened steel core bullets and it has also received an Explosive Resistant Vehicle (ERV) 2010 rating, which means that it can protect the occupants from a 15 kg TNT explosion from a distance of just two metres.”

“The lower part of the car is heavily armoured to protect the occupants from direct explosions and its cabin gets a separate air supply in case of a gas attack.” The approximate cost of the luxury car is estimated at around Rs 12 crore – Rs 15 crore. However, government sources clarified on Wednesday that the new car is not an upgrade but a routine replacement as BMW had stopped making the model he had used earlier. “The cars cost much less than the media speculation, in fact it is about one-third of the price quoted in the media,” an official source was quoted as saying.

“The decisions relating to security detail purchases are based on the threat perception to the protectee. These decisions are taken independently by the SPG without taking views of the protectee. The widespread discussion on the security features of the protectee's car is not in national interest as it puts in public domain a lot of unnecessary detail. This only threatens the life of the protectee,” the source reportedly further added.