Bullet-proof Hyundai Equus for Korean President

2011 Hyundai Equus

Do you want to get presidential with your ride? Join Korean president Lee Myung-Bak in purchasing the new 2011 Hyundai Equus luxury car and you can imagine yourself as a head of state. Or at least, you’d be secure in the knowledge that you’d be in the same model car as the Korean president.

Here’s your dose of politically-inspired automotive history for the day: while Korea is the fifth-largest car manufacturing country in the world. Up until the release of the 2011 Hyundai Equus, none of the Korean-designed cars had been considered “viable” for the task of transporting the president of the country safely.

Hyundai enjoys an excellent car reputation worldwide, but it’s a reputation for making reliable budget hatchbacks, not classy presidential limousine-cum-tank machines.

Before the Hyundai Equus, the Korean head of state was driven around in a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. This was despite the fact that Myung-Bak was a former chairman and employee of Hyundai for an incredible twenty-seven years!

However, if safety is a concern for the Korean president – and it always is with presidential motorcades of any nationality – he can ride assured in his specially built, 2011 Hyundai Equus: the specially armored presidential ride can supposedly withstand a blast from 15 kilograms of TNT. Now that’s a dynamite ride!

So does the Korean automaker’s step out from the moniker of “value conscious” live up to the hype? Time will tell: the 2011 Equus is released this fall and is expected to compete with other luxury sedans like those in the S-Class. With a starting price sticker of $55,000, it’s not your ordinary Hyundai.

The South Korean government has apparently given the Equus the stamp of approval, now the only thing left to see is if the rest of the consumer world agrees.