Photo: Porsche/ Baird & Co.
If by chance you were on the streets of East London last Sunday, chances are you witness some exciting scenes: three Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, one helicopter, and several motorcycle-mounted police officers.
The convoy was not part of some movie scene being shot on the streets of the capital, nor some thieves being chased by police. All the above vehicles were part of a convoy transporting 24 gold bars belonging to Baird & Co., one of Britain’s leading bullion merchants and gold refiners and worth over 11 million euros ($13,6 million).
The bars were being carried from Baird's refinery to its new London showroom in Hatton Garden, a course that spans some 12 miles. For this, Baird used three production version spec Panamera Sport Turismo with no special fitting for the task: two were Turbo versions, while the third a Turbo S E-Hybrid.
The gold was split evenly between the three cars, which also carried the driver, a radio operator, and specialist security. Aside from the that, the cars had to have the load capacity to house two specially-designed gold bullion crates.
“In this instance, we had a very large shipment of gold to transport – which is quite rare. We had to rely on the cars to be absolutely reliable, to be stable and to be more than capable of carrying the gold with capacity – in terms of performance – to spare,” said Nick Hammond Director of Baird & Co.
“We didn’t want the vehicles to be anywhere near their limits, which is asking quite a lot. And, despite the phenomenal weight – and the density of the weight – the Panamera had to carry, they performed impeccably.”
All this was, of course, a marketing stunt, and a very high risk one, given the fact that the vehicles were not modified in no way for the task. The trick worked, and the gold bars were delivered successfully.
The bars were being carried from Baird's refinery to its new London showroom in Hatton Garden, a course that spans some 12 miles. For this, Baird used three production version spec Panamera Sport Turismo with no special fitting for the task: two were Turbo versions, while the third a Turbo S E-Hybrid.
The gold was split evenly between the three cars, which also carried the driver, a radio operator, and specialist security. Aside from the that, the cars had to have the load capacity to house two specially-designed gold bullion crates.
“In this instance, we had a very large shipment of gold to transport – which is quite rare. We had to rely on the cars to be absolutely reliable, to be stable and to be more than capable of carrying the gold with capacity – in terms of performance – to spare,” said Nick Hammond Director of Baird & Co.
“We didn’t want the vehicles to be anywhere near their limits, which is asking quite a lot. And, despite the phenomenal weight – and the density of the weight – the Panamera had to carry, they performed impeccably.”
All this was, of course, a marketing stunt, and a very high risk one, given the fact that the vehicles were not modified in no way for the task. The trick worked, and the gold bars were delivered successfully.
Google News