Shouldn't all new Rolls Royces come armored from the factory?

[Big time]

Security is a BIG concern for the typical Rolls Royce buyer.
They are so wealthy they fear being robbed or kidnapped.
Driving such flashy cars (Rolls Royce) just make it worse.

So, shouldn't all new models be armored and designed from scratch to withstand armor weight.
Maybe they could even use armor materials as structural members to improve rigidity and sound insulation.

Of course this might not apply to convertibles, although it would be interesting to see an convertible that rises an armored top and windows, electrically or hydraulically operated, of course.

[Sayess]

1) when was the last time a rr got gunned down?
2) step on the gas, invoke v-12, and call lawyer.
3) the average rr owner has 5 other vehicles--drive the bentley through less upscale neighborhoods.
4) if one is recognizable to the teeming masses, armed bodyguards are regularly employed.
5) if still paranoid and need armor to feel secure, order one armored...money can buy anything.

[092326001]

Seems like a silly idea to me. Why dampen the performance of your product at a higher cost for a feature that most clients wouldn't need especially if said feature could be ordered for the few that needed it?

[CdocZ]

A new Phantom weighs about 3 tons. To armor that (2-3" thick ballistic steel or something else for every body panel, bullet resistant glass is also heavy as hell) brings a car probaby 10 tons easily, if not significantly more. So even besides the cost, you would almost certainly have to re-gear the transmission and retune the engine (if not put in an entirely new, stronger engine, depending on the car/native engine) to deal with all that new weight.

[ScionDriver]

The fact is, any car can be made armored by any number of aftermarket companies. Most conversions are done on very plain cars (Toyota Camrys in Mexico and Chevy/GMC SUVs in the US).
If you are wealthy enough to be a security risk in your own country you buy something more inconspicuous than a Roller.
I would bet most RR buyers are in the US and the stable Mid-East (UAE, Saudi Arabia) with a number coming from China and Russia. The Russian buyer is the one with the biggest security concerns but yeah.