It's the armoured Mercedes-Maybach S600

This is the Mercedes-Maybach S600 ‘Guard’. As the name suggests, it is an armoured Merc. It's the first, we’re told, to be certified with the highest ballistic protection level for civilian vehicles.

It’s quite a bit of machinery, too. It’s based of course, on the V12-engined Maybach S600 with its 523bhp bi-turbo, 6.0-litre V12. It measures in at 20cm longer than a long-wheelbase S-Class saloon, too.

And while we haven’t been presented with a weight figure, expect it to be considerably more than the ‘standard’ Merc-Maybach’s 2,335kg. This is because this Guard edition has been certified to protect against hardened steel core bullets fired from an assault rifle (meeting the ‘VR10’ protection requirements), along with an ‘ERV 2010’ explosion resistance rating.

We’re not allowed to know the test criteria for this last point, but Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal Investigation approved it “without any constraints”. So, um, that’s good.

This is thanks to steel integrated into the gaps between the body structure and outer skin, while materials are overlapped at critical points too. The laminated windows, predictably, are thick, and coated with polycarbonate on the inside for splinter protection.

There’s underbody armouring too – like in the non-Maybach armoured S-Class – that’ll protect against explosive devices set beneath the car just as handily as side detonation.

How much for this bulletproof excellence, you cry? €470,000 plus VAT. Which is £366k plus taxes. But you do get a mighty V12, along with all the Maybach luxury you could desire. And, most importantly, it doesn’t look any different to the standard car...