It was founded in 1945 as a steel trading company, we are in Mumbai, India. The company is M&M, known in the West as Mahindra. It specializes in various automotive and two-wheeler sectors, but the peculiarity is that it has divided the production sector into small businesses managed independently by professionals of the specific production. A winning choice that seems to have the wind in its sails, also for production defense.
Today we are dealing with a quite special bus because it is totally armored and falls into the classification of B6 protection.
It is a bus, or rather a 16-seater minibus, but its mass does not reach the expected 5 t, it exceeds double it. Defensive use is mild compared to Mahindra's military special production. In fact, in the case of the minibus, it is made for the travel of international diplomatic delegations, for the press, the transfer of prisoners and clearly also for the transport of a team of soldiers in areas at risk of guerrilla warfare despite being devoid of tactical connotations.
The historic and direct collaboration of the Indian brand with the conflict areas in the Middle East has forced the Indian brand to rapidly develop its expertise in the field (and not on paper), evolving successfully in the specific defense sector. The range of military armored vehicles is interesting and is divided according to type, use and category, respecting NATO approval.
MEVA Toyota Coaster
We are not describing a tactical vehicle so the following measures are essentially elaborations to support a significantly greater GVW. This is due to its armor which does not distort the original use of the minibus.
The supporting chassis is Toyota and derives from a normal truck which has undergone all the necessary revisions to set up a protected living cell. It has five protective layers capable of withstanding 109x5,56mm SS45 ammunition. The body is also protected and resists attacks with DM-51 bombs or similar.
The process for the conversion into an armored vehicle naturally saw the reinforcement of the torsion bar and the addition of a safe room for valuables or weapons, making it absolutely impenetrable; it is located in place of the traditional luggage compartment.
A powerful air conditioning system and a refrigerator are present for desert uses even though the vehicle was not originally designed for excessively long journeys.
The supercharged six-cylinder engine has two displacements of 4164 and 2694 cubic centimeters with 129 and 155 horsepower respectively.
The front suspension is double wishbone (independent) but as an option, it is possible to request the more rustic rigid axle. At the rear there is the traditional bridge with reinforced springs.
The front braking system features self-ventilating discs and ceramic pads, while at the rear the presence of the classic drum system can be seen.
The gearbox is six-speed manual with rear-wheel drive; it is unclear whether a 4x4 version exists. It doesn't even appear to have an auxiliary engine brake, but there isn't much data for the moment.
The rims are made of steel while the 16-ply tires measure: 215 / 75 R17.5 TR685. The armored cell completely isolates it from the outside, for this reason an intercom system is provided for communication with the outside and, from the outside, with the inside of the cabin.
Mahindra & Mahindra
The multinational is valued at 19 billion dollars and has 200 thousand employees and has relationships with more than 100 countries. It deals, how Mahindra Group, from multiple sectors including: aerospace, automotive components, finance, consultancy and education.
