Obama’s ‘Beast’ vs Modi’s BMW 7-Series

Our respectable Prime Minister Modi Ji presently owns a BMW 7-Series when compared to Obama’s Beast i.e., Cadillac!

Despite of promoting Make In India constantly throughout, Modi has no option but to accept the heritage of government and our ex-PM Manmohan Singh.

There are a lot of reasons for our present PM to commute in BMW 7-Series and not in his Scorpio (which he owned prior to earning the status of our PM), few of such reasons are mentioned below.

First of all, even after the modifications it was not considered safe by the SPG, as the Scorpio has a very high stance, and it would serve an easy target for snipers as it would stand out among the surrounding BMW X5’s which carry the SPG men. The 7-Series on the other hand is low-stance car which is adequately protected from a direct shot by surrounding cars(X5's). Also, a car with lower ground clearance has it’s center of mass more closer to the ground. It responds faster to sudden changes in movement and is easier to control & maneuver.

Second: The threat perception of PM Modi is much greater than the erstwhile CM Modi. SPG did the right thing by going along with a tested German system of cars known for reliability and used worldwide. Contrast this against the Scorpio without a convincing track record.

Third: They already had the BMW 7 series which were bought during the tenure of the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee(before BMW, Indian PMs used to travel in Ambassadors). Also, there were talks that some other cars were also being considered other than BMW and Scorpio. But, the government refrained from spending extra unnecessarily and decided to use the existing 7 series fleet which already had all the security features required by SPG for PM Modi’s protection.

The idea is ‘Make in India’ not ‘Make Indian’. India Inc.’s potential to invest is limited to a certain extent and have other bottlenecks like technology and expertise. Bringing in foreign money also brings with it foreign technology, experience and much better level of competition. This would help in lowering the fiscal deficit(benefits India), create jobs at a massive scale(benefits Indians), transfer of cutting edge technology(to India) and create a robust supply chain. All this will create an investment cycle in the Indian economy which will help us reach high growth phase(maybe double digit) and sustain it in the long term. This is exactly what China did and it sustained double digit growth for 30 years.

The present government’s policies suggest that we are moving in the right direction.

Coming back to the car itself, the BMW 7 Series that our Prime Minister drives around is a highly secured armour clad luxury mobile, which sports a V12 engine churning out 546 PS of peek power and can do a 0–100 kmph sprint is 6.2 sec and has a top speed of 210 kmph. This car is compliant with a VR7 grade of ballistic protection and parts of it comply with a higher VR9 grade of protection as well. Its cabin can turn into a gas-safe chamber in case of a gas attack and is also equipped with a back-up oxygen tank.

As for other super safety features this car has a self-sealing fuel tank that cannot explode in any circumstances. Also on board, similar to Obama’s car, is a fire-fighting system, emergency exit and thick bullet-proof windows. It also has armour plates beneath to withstand mines and bombs and run flat tyres which work for several kilometres. The car also possesses advanced heat sensors to provide protection from bombs and missiles. Modi’s BMW is considerably lighter than Obama’s Cadillac, making it easier to manoeuvre. However, the Cadillac One generates greater momentum.