This Lightweight Car Armor Is Surprisingly Affordable

The portmanteau word carjacking (car-hijacking) first showed up in print in The Detroit News in 1991. It became well publicized globally, but South Africa is still the undisputed world leader in carjacking. According to vehicle tracking specialist Tracker, more cars are taken at gunpoint in South Africa between July and December 2024 than stolen by other means. In particular, pickups like the Ranger Raptor are hot property.

This is why there are so many companies in South Africa that armor cars, and one of them is SVI Engineering. Typically, buying an armored car or having one reinforced is expensive and out of the reach of the average car owner, which is why SVI has worked on a cost-effective solution it calls SVI Lite.

It’s Not The Safest Armoring On Offer, But It Is The Most Attainable

Typically, SVI offers either B4 level (protection against handguns and shotguns) and B6 level (+ rifle and high-powered rifle) 360-degree armoring packages. SVI Lite limits protection to the doors and their windows, and is priced per closure. The thinking is that when carjackings occur, that’s where a gun is typically pointed. The protection is rated at B2 protection, meaning it’s rated to stop 124-grain 9mm rounds, typically fired from a handgun.

“In much the same way as a bullet-resistant vest provides protection to vital organs of the human body, our new SVI LITE solution covers critical areas of the vehicle that are typically targeted during a hijacking attempt.”

– Nicol Louw, SVI Business Development Director

According to SVI, each package weighs just over 33 pounds with the replacement window being light enough for the standard motors to raise and lower without issue. Initially, SVI Lite is available for the Toyota Corolla Cross and Ford Ranger, but SVI plans on extending its range.

Next will be the Toyota Hilux, Toyota Fortune,r and Ford Everest. SVI has Qualified Vehicle Modifier status with Ford, but it’s starting out with the most popular vehicles in South Africa. It costs R54,950 per door for a Corolla Cross (just under $3,000) and R64,950 per door for the Ford Ranger (just over $3,500). It takes two weeks to have a car fitted with the armor at SVI’s facility in Pretoria.

South Africa Is Unique, But Its Problem Is Not

There’s a number of reasons South Africa has a problem with carjacking, roughly 18 times the rate of the same crime in the US. The demand for cheap cars and a porous border are ingredients, along with guns being illegally imported over the decades from nearby conflict countries.

Mix that together with high levels of economic inequality, and you’re going to get carjacking problems. Here in the US, carjackings have spiked dramatically over the past four years, but the ingredients, while including high economic inequality and an abundance of firearms, are a little different.

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Praise Aladeen, The Dictator’s Car Is Now For Sale In America

How were these not already for sale in their most obvious market? Then again, they don’t look very pedestrian-friendly.

Carjacking has been present since the start of car theft, but now stealing a car is much more difficult with comprehensive security systems (mostly – unless it’s an older Hyundai or Kia) coming standard with cars. Taking the car from the owner at gunpoint skips all of that preventative technology.

Fortunately, here in America, NPR reports that carjackings have fallen since the pandemic-era spike. But there’s always a demand for increased safety throughout the world, and a demand for accessible armoring could grow anywhere in the world.