General Motors has been spotted testing what appears to be the presidential limousine -- replete with an exterior to camouflage key details -- that will replace the “Beast” that protects President Obama.
On the day Donald Trump becomes president, he’ll likely be getting two sets of keys: one for the White House and one for a brand new car.
Although its existence hasn’t been officially confirmed, General Motors has been spotted testing what appears to be the presidential limousine that will replace the “Beast” that protects President Obama.
Spy photographers stalking GM’s proving grounds over the summer snapped a few shots of a camouflaged vehicle that looks like a modified version of the current Cadillac-branded state car.
Its profile is nearly identical, but it features Cadillac’s latest style, including vertical LED headlights and a CT6-like grille with the company’s new wreathless crest in the center.
Details about the Beast are kept secret for reasons of national security, but while it looks like a sedan, it’s understood to be a medium-duty truck in disguise. Obama once revealed to Jerry Seinfeld that it’s “a Caddy, basically on a tank frame.”
The 15,000- to 20,000-pound luxury car needs it to haul around an armored passenger compartment that can reportedly take a hit from an IED or RPG and carries its own air supply to allow it to drive through chemical weapons attacks.
The U.S. Secret Service maintains a fleet of around a dozen similar vehicles, each with a price tag believed to be in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. General Motors has not commented on the vehicle, but it does currently hold contracts worth nearly $16 million that run through 2017 for work on the “next generation parade limousine.”
That year is significant. It’s when Trump takes office, and the original Beast was revealed just a week before Obama was sworn in on Inauguration Day, 2009.
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