GMC Yukon XL prove to be the most
popular for outfitting. Although status
is certainly one of the reasons buyers
of armored cars choose their particular
vehicles, a vehicle’s gross vehicle weight
rating (GVWR) also plays a large role.
Adding as much as 3,000 pounds to
a vehicle in order for it to withstand
high-caliber bullets isn’t uncommon, so
Alpine spends a lot of time focusing on
keeping a vehicle’s weight well below its
GVWR. Coupled with upgraded suspen-
sions (custom tuned for each vehicle) and
cross-drilled brakes, Alpine Armoring
strives to maintain the donor vehicle’s
standard ride, handling, and performance
characteristics as much as possible. This
makes for a more durable vehicle that’s
safer to drive in the day-to-day grind and
emergency situations alike.
Interestingly, Khoroushi said not all
GVWRs are created equally: “Toyota and
Mercedes tend to over-engineer their
vehicles, whereas some GM vehicles,
like [previous-generation] Escalades or
Suburbans don’t hold the weight as well.
It’s as if their GVWR are more accurate,
whereas on a Land Cruiser, for example,
its [performance] characteristics [imply
its GVWR is underrated].” But the new
2021 Suburban, Yukon XL, and Escalade
ESV “have far exceeded our initial expecta-
tions,” Khoroushi noted, adding, “GM built
the chassis of these vehicles far tougher
than their predecessors, and they’re on par
with Toyota and Mercedes models after
the vehicle is armored. They drive very
well with the added armor weight.”
The discontinued ( but likely to return)
Chevrolet Suburban 3500 HD and GMC
Yukon XL 3500 HD—frequently seen
in presidential motorcades—were also
armored vehicle standouts with an
11,000-pound GVWR, allowing Alpine
and other outfitters to safely affix the
maximum amount of armor possible. “It
was the perfect armored vehicle platform,”
Khoroushi said.
Suburban HDs are often armored up to
the highest level, capable of withstanding
the aforementioned .50-caliber round
from a high-powered rifle. But not
everyone needs that level of protection.
Alpine offers 13 levels of ballisticAlthough
ostentatious
armored vehicles
like the Mercedes
G 63 (below) get
a lot of attention,
vehicles like the
Toyota Camry
(left) allow owners
to stay under
the radar.protection, all tested internally, at the U.S.
Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground, and
by the Beschussamt München (Munich
Ballistics Agency). The latter includes
two tests; in the first, the vehicle has to
withstand 350 rounds of various types, and
the second requires the same vehicle to
withstand explosions from three grenades.
All this allows Alpine Armoring to apply
its ballistic standard levels to competing
NATO STANAG, Underwriters Laboratory
(UL), National Institute of Justice (NIJ),
and European CEN standards.
Regardless of the vehicle you choose
or what level of armor you opt for, each
build largely starts the same. “The first
thing we do is strip the entire vehicle
to bare-bones metal as if it’s just in the
middle of production at the OEM factory,”
Khoroushi said. Next, the armoring
process begins. Alpine, like similar
companies, uses two types of armor for its
vehicles: opaque and transparent. Opaque
armor is largely made of ballistic steels,
Kevlar, and Dyneema (a textile similar in
strength to Kevlar but generally lighter
and thicker), though other materials, suchFEATURE I Armored Vehicles
58 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2021