Everyone is accustomed to see the armored cars parked (often illegally) outside of banks and businesses where uniformed men load and unload huge bags of what must be money. And everyone has also seen the mundane but practical SUV’s driven by ‘soccer moms’ loading groceries in the grocery store parking lots or disgorging kids and sports equipment at the local baseball fields.
Traditionally an armored car was strictly for the security business. Enter the Conquest Knight XV. Car News describes the Knight XV as “an ultra-luxurious handcrafted, Bio-fuel powered fully armoured SUV.”
The Knight XV is handcrafted and each vehicle requires 1500 hours to build. The company plans to build a limited first run comprising l00 vehicles. The Knight XV was first introduced to the public at the SEMA show in Las Vegas and displayed more recently at the well-known Farrett-Jackson Collector Car Event held in Scottsdale, Arizona.
It will appeal to aficionados of those things military. Its role model is the Gurkha military vehicle used by the US Army, the Russian Foreign Ministry, and various SWAT teams. The Knight XV definitely has the military look. It is the brainchild of Conquest Vehicles, Inc., a company housed in Toronto, Canada. Conquest specializes in the design and manufacture of fully armored, luxurious, handcrafted sport utility vehicles.
The Knight XV is also fully armored. The windows and windscreen are constructed from a 2.5-inch transparent material that is bulletproof. The body is crafted from ballistic hardened steel with ballistic hardened fiberglass fenders and bumpers. Mickey Thompson Baja Radial ATZ ballistic run-flat tires are mounted on the 20 inch forged aluminum wheels. This is an oversized SUV built on a Ford F550 chassis, as is the Gurkha. The Knight XV is 20 feet long by 8 feet, 2 inches wide. It stands 8 feet, 4 inches tall with a 14-inch ground clearance. It has a 141-inch wheelbase and weights 12,000 pounds.
It is equipped with a 6.8 liter V10 engine producing 400 hp and 498 ft-lb or torque.
The engine was built to operate on bio-fuel however it can also run on petrol or diesel. The fuel tank has a 40-gallon capacity.
The 283-cubic-foot interior is spacious and luxurious. It features Wilton Wool luxury carpeting and Andrew Muirhead leather. Each boardroom style seat is 6 way powered and has its own side mounted lap top station. Other amenities are the Tandem glass sunroof equipped with privacy shades, LED ambient cabin lighting, TV monitors, Bluetooth equipment, Alpine AM FM CD DVD navigation, and Playstation 3. A night vision rear camera is also installed.
The Knight XV is equipped with an E-85 Ethanol conversion system (Flex Fuel) with California certification. It is therefore certified in all states.
According to Conquest President William Maizlin the Knight XV is designed to “appeal to high profile individuals with discriminate tastes that place security and luxury at the top of their list when it comes to acquiring a bespoke luxury vehicle.”
The Knight XV comes with a price tag of $310,000 so one will not be passing too many of these on the freeway.
