Guides

Armoured or Non-Armoured? How to Choose Your DARTZ

By DARTZ Editorial · 13 September 2026 · Updated 4 October 2026

Every DARTZ Prombron’ can be built armoured or non-armoured, to the client's specification. The choice turns on four things: the threat you actually face, how visible you want the car to be, how you will use it, and the weight armour adds. Whichever you choose, ask the builder for the standard, the class and the test report, and whether the class covers the whole vehicle.

The most useful question a client can ask is not “how much armour?” It is “against what?” An armoured car is a set of decisions, and the first one is whether to armour at all.

Four questions that decide it

What is the threat? A public figure in a busy city and a diplomat in a region of open conflict need different cars. Handgun classes stop handguns. Rifle classes stop rifles. Armour-piercing classes stop armour-piercing rounds. Our guide to protection levels sets out what each class means.

How visible should the car be? Some clients want the car to announce itself. Others want it to disappear into traffic. DARTZ builds for both. Leonard F. Yankelovich told TopSpeed that his clients “want to be flashy”, and that DARTZ focuses on the body.

How will you use it? A car driven daily by a chauffeur, a car kept for travel and a car for occasions are three different jobs. Armour adds weight, and weight changes range, braking and how the car feels.

What will you give up? Thicker glass, heavier doors and the reinforced structure behind them all take a little space and a little ease. A non-armoured build gives that ease back.

Both are built the same way

DARTZ does not treat the non-armoured car as a lesser car. The Black Alligator keeps its carbon-covered Kevlar and steel-cage structure whether or not armour is fitted, and DARTZ told Top Gear that even the unarmoured version is safer than a regular car. The Iron Diamond CLV, Black Dragon CLV, Aladeen Edition MMXXII and Black Stallion are all offered armoured or not.

Craftsmen building the steel shell of a DARTZ inside the workshop

What to ask any builder

Whoever builds it, a client is entitled to clear answers.

Extreme close-up of the edge of bullet-resistant glass, showing its laminated layers

Which standard? EN 1063, VPAM or STANAG, and which class.
What was tested? The materials, or the finished vehicle. A class that applies to the whole car is worth more than one that applies to a panel.
What is in the report? Ask for the laboratory’s test report.
What does it weigh? DARTZ gives an example: 2,200 kg for the Aladeen Edition MMXXII at BR2, and 3,100 kg with the optional STANAG 2 package, both provisional.
How will it be serviced? A car this heavy needs a builder that stays.

How a DARTZ is ordered

A chauffeur’s white-gloved hand on the door handle of a black DARTZ Prombron’ Black Dragon, its silver-dragon sill panel below

There are no dealers. Leonard has said it plainly: “We have no dealers. And we have no plans to have dealers. Our strategy is to have direct sales.” A commission begins with an enquiry to his office, then a private consultation in which the armour, the cabin and the finish are specified rather than chosen from a brochure.

About DARTZ

DARTZ is a Riga carrosserie that builds bespoke, opulent vehicles, armoured or non-armoured, in strictly limited numbers. It calls them BONDs: Bespoke Opulent Noble Drives.

Its heritage runs back to the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory (RBVZ), founded in Riga in 1869, whose automobile department built its first car in 1909. Leonard F. Yankelovich revived that heritage as DARTZ in 1988. The group, DARTZ Grupa OÜ, is registered in Tallinn, Estonia.

Its Prombron’ models, from the Iron Diamond and Black Dragon to the Black Shark, Black Alligator and Black Stallion, have been covered by Top Gear, Forbes, Robb Report and Fox News, among many others.

Questions we are asked

Are all DARTZ cars armoured?

No. Every Prombron’ can be built armoured or non-armoured, to the client’s specification.

Is a non-armoured DARTZ still safer than a normal car?

The Black Alligator keeps its carbon-covered Kevlar and steel-cage structure even when it is not armoured, and DARTZ told Top Gear that makes it “safer than regular”. Ask DARTZ what each build includes.

How do I choose the protection level?

Start with the threat you face and how visible the car should be, then match the class to it. Higher classes stop heavier ammunition but add weight. The level is agreed in a private consultation.

What should I ask an armouring builder?

Which standard the class refers to, whether it covers the whole vehicle or only the materials, what the test report shows, and how the added weight affects handling, brakes and payload.

How do I order a DARTZ?

Directly from DARTZ. There are no dealers, and every commission begins with an enquiry to the office of Leonard F. Yankelovich.