It might be time for Barack Obama to update his regal ride.
The U.S. government recently sent out a request for proposals on an armored limousine design. Now, that doesn't specifically point to the President, but we're pretty certain that RFP should lead back to the big man in charge. That would mean that the Secret Service is ready to look elsewhere for Beast duties.
Any companies that accept the challenge laid forth in the request will have to submit a vehicle design that can handle serious stress. There's a long list of classified requirements and performance capability that designers and engineers will need to take into account. Once that's done, the vehicle will have to stand up to live-fire exercises. Should it pass all of the tests, the manufacturer could be awarded the contract to dole out the next presidential road-going machine.
We're pretty sure it won't involve a cut-up Suburban chassis, LS3 motor, and non-working air conditioning like The Beast we experienced. Still, we look forward to seeing how this competition might shake out.
Cadillac supplies the current Presidential limo and we imagine they'd be rather eager to hold onto that gig. It hasn't always been a Caddy providing shuttle duty, however, and other automakers might just be eager to reclaim that spot. It's time for the automakers to get cracking so we can say "all hail to the chief design."
