It is known as Cadillac One and ‘The Beast’. GM has been testing the new iteration of the “beast” on proving grounds in Michigan since last August.

“It’s Cadillac’s honor to design and build the Presidential Limousine, continuing a great American tradition,” said a Cadillac spokesperson.

The cutaway infographic above, and the photos below, show the brand new incarnation of the President’s official vehicle undergoing final testing before it is delivered to the White House.

The sedan is longer than two large SUVs and, for the moment, remains in white and black camouflage designed to make it more difficult to identify new features aboard the vehicle.

The seven-seater vehicle is intended for carrying the President and a few assistants, holding five in the rear in a conference room-style seating arrangement. Serious office work is more intended for Air Force One, though, so the car will be more about conducting face-to-face matters.

The $1,471,886 car is part of a fleet of 12, which cost around $18,401,182, and is arguably the safest vehicle in the world, as befits the President of the United States.

The Beast weighs eight tons and has eight-inch thick steel doors that weigh the same as those on a Boeing 757 – and are sealed to withstand biological and chemical attacks.

The front windscreen can withstand armor piercing bullets or a .44 magnum and the bodywork is military grade and five inches thick.

The reinforced undercarriage will withstand going over a roadside bomb and the fuel tank is explosive resistant.

Only the driver’s side window can open in case he needs to pay a toll – and in the trunk are cases of the President’s blood for an emergency transfusion.

Among the other features are shotguns on board in case an attack breaks out, Kevlar tires that run even if they are flat and an oxygen system in the trunk in case of a chemical attack.

A number of guns are hidden in the front grille of the vehicle which can be used to fire on an attacker.

The Beast also has night vision cameras on board and appears to run on diesel due to the oversized rectangular fuel filler door.

The Beast is not the only hi-tech vehicle in the Presidential fleet.

Among the motorcade is the President’s own communications antenna – a mobile cellphone tower strapped to the top of a car in his motorcade.

And always nearby is the military aide carrying the ‘Nuclear Football’, which is the briefcase which stores instructions in case of a military attack.

One of the few times The Beast has broken down was in 2013 when a driver put the wrong fuel into it while on a trip to Israel.

The embarrassing blunder left the Secret Service scrambling to find a vehicle that could take President Obama around Tel Aviv.

He was not on board at the time.

President Obama’s staff had anticipated every eventuality with The Beast and had bought generators and backup equipment – but they did not count on such a basic human error.

Another incident was on a 2011 trip to Ireland when The Beast got stuck on a speed bump outside the US Embassy in Dublin.

Sources:

[1] Daniel Bates, Inside Trump’s new car dubbed the ‘Beast’: £1.2m Cadillac has eight-inch thick doors, can survive a roadside bomb and has an an oxygen system in case of a chemical attack, Daily Mail, March 1, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4273134/Inside-Trump-s-new-car-dubbed-Beast.html?ito=email_share_article-top.

[2] Mike Brown, Inside Donald Trump’s New Presidental Car, Inverse.com, January 20, 2017, https://www.inverse.com/article/26694-donald-trump-beast-presidential-car.