They feature a number of security features, including a 13 mm explosive resistant steel plate underneath the body, titanium and Kevlar lined cabins, armoured windows with bullet resistant polycarbonate toughened glass, and run flat tyres.

The cars are also equipped with an independent, self contained oxygen supply, to safeguard occupants in the event of a chemical or biological attack.

[8][9][10] Since the early-1980s, when Margaret Thatcher switched from the Rover P5 models that had been in use since the 1960s, all prime ministerial cars have been from the Jaguar XJ range of the day, or its Daimler-badged variant.

A British racing green X308 took Gordon Brown to Buckingham Palace on 6 April 2010 to request the dissolution of Parliament, but it was the 2000 model that took him on his last ride as Prime Minister.

[13] On 17 June 2020, Boris Johnson was in one of the vehicles when a crash occurred due to a protester running in front of the motorcade.