Hummer on Steroids...

**Jared Moya** · August 28th, 2006, 08:18 AM

When a Hummer won't do
In the past, politicians and rock stars fed the urban armoured car business.
But with security fears on the rise, so is demand
Aug. 25, 2006. 07:00 AM
TONY WONG
BUSINESS REPORTER

It can stop a bullet from an AK-47, shrug off a roadside bomb, and it makes a Hummer look like a chick car.

The $200,000 (U.S.) Gurkha is coming to a road near you — thanks to a King City-based company that is finding itself in demand because of the global war on terror.

"They are pretty awesome machines," says William Whyte, owner of Armet Armored Vehicles Inc., the company that builds the Gurkha. "We've been stopped on roads with people taking pictures and wanting to know what they are."

The Gurkha can go more than 150 kilometres per hour — plenty fast for a military vehicle — and is the highest level of protection you can get next to sitting in a tank, Whyte says. It certainly looks fierce enough.

The squat 8,620 kilogram vehicle looks every bit the ticked-off hedgehog, bristling with testosterone and armour plating.

Whyte says the first 40 have been built this year for delivery to the Canadian and the American military in the Middle East. The first civilian delivery is for a "well-known personality" in California that will take place next month, Whyte says. The customer, who is a friend of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, intends to use it as daily transport, Whyte says. "It's a very California mentality to have the biggest and the best."

It's also in the spirit of one-upmanship. Schwarzenegger was the first civilian to take ownership of a Hummer military vehicle — which most famously kick-started sales of the armoured car.

Whyte is likely hoping for a similar halo effect, especially since the Gurkha is also slated to star in a Discovery Channel Europe documentary to be released later this year.

The privately owned company, the largest armoured car manufacturer in Canada, will not give out sales figures, but says over the last three years it has opened three more offices including the Middle East, England and Malta to deal with demand.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=968332188492

**Lord_of_the_Dense** · August 28th, 2006, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by soulxtc

"It's a very California mentality to have the biggest and the best."

And the biggest gas bill. Brag about that, stud.:icon_rabb

**Kyle06** · August 28th, 2006, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by Lord_of_the_Dense

And the biggest gas bill. Brag about that, stud.:icon_rabb

Let me guess about 4 miles per gallon

**black_magiic** · August 28th, 2006, 06:34 PM

try 4 gallons per mile :o)

**Kyle06** · August 28th, 2006, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by black_magiic

try 4 gallons per mile :o)

For some reason I don't dought that

**shawners** · August 28th, 2006, 06:47 PM

Dart buses and bus lines through various cities get 1 mile per gallon. Whats the crap on top of the vehicle, monitor or luggage rack?

**NFSU2FREAK** · August 28th, 2006, 06:55 PM

Shawners thats the air conditioner system up on those dart buses we have them here in toon town complete with bike racks in front and they are wider buses then the other low rider buses

**mountain_rage** · August 28th, 2006, 07:05 PM

The rack on top looks like a gun turret to me, pretty crazy vehicle. Supprising it came from canada.

**NFSU2FREAK** · August 29th, 2006, 12:24 AM

hey mountain_rage can you believe they are hybrid diesel/electric buses as well pretty cool we also have buses that run on a canola diesel mixture to what about that eh!

**origin** · August 29th, 2006, 01:39 AM

it looks cool! how about a maroon one? ;)

l8

**kokanezub** · August 29th, 2006, 07:51 AM

i get 15 with my v8 jeep (mpg) i bet this one needs desiel and you get like 2 miles a gallon

**Jared Moya** · August 29th, 2006, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Lord_of_the_Dense

And the biggest gas bill. Brag about that, stud.:icon_rabb

I think the notion of driving ehat is essentially a battlefield vehicle to run your errands or pick up ones kids from school is pretty dam retarded,

**Andromedon** · August 29th, 2006, 08:23 AM

I can see the Bush administration salivating at the prospect of thousands of americans buying these vehicles to up the prices of gasoline even further.

**Atasas** · August 29th, 2006, 08:31 AM

http://www.army-technology.com/contr...co/iveco1.html

Is that not good enough?

**Jared Moya** · August 29th, 2006, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Andromedon

I can see the Bush administration salivating at the prospect of thousands of americans buying these vehicles to up the prices of gasoline even further.

Dont know why Bush would necessarily be salivating moreso than Al Gore. Al Gore and Fam own big numbers of Occidental Petroleum stock. Plus at the end of the day, both sides of the asile dont give 2 cents about gas prices and the people, for if they did they'd set uniform federal emssion standards so that we'd all have one formula of gas to produce and immediately bring down gas prices so they dont have to refine like 30 different brands. DEMs / REPs they're both the same deal.