Mercedes-Benz Vario 815 D blindé

The Mercedes-Benz Vario 815 D blindé is an armoured van-type truck built by Mercedes-Benz for the non-military carriage of cash and other valuables. It was developed from the standard Mercedes-Benz Vario, the heavy-load van that Mercedes designed in 1986 under the name T2. Cash-in-transit companies such as Loomis and Brinks are its main users across Europe, where it collects the daily or weekly takings of shops and businesses, and banks also use it to move money and high-value items. Its minimum weight is about 6,000 kg with an authorised payload of 1,400 kg, much of the weight coming from layered hardened steel plates and composite ballistic material. The bullet-resistant glass is 10 mm thick, and the vehicle can keep driving on punctured tyres at up to 40 km/h. Inside, a code that changes every half hour must be entered during the trip; if it is not, or if the truck is attacked, resin is injected into the storage bins and ruins the contents, while ink-spraying cases mark banknotes removed without authority. A few examples serve police units such as the French GIPN.