It’s not exactly the plot for Fast & Furious 9, but it might as well be. A convoy of three Porsche Panameras was given an unusual task by Baird & Co. that’s normally done by armored trucks. Britain’s leading bullion merchants and gold refiners needed to organize a massive shipment of 24 gold bars with a combined value of $13.8 million from its refinery to its new London showroom in Hatton Garden, a distance of 12 miles. Instead of hiring a security company as most companies do, Bard & Co. hired Porsche to get the job done.

It was a curious choice to tap Porsche for the job, but the potential for tremendous publicity for both companies was sitting there on a silver platter. So Baird & Co. and Porsche did it. The latter supplied a pair of Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo and a Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo to do the work normally reserved for armored trucks. The logistics of the transport involved each Panamera having a driver, a radio operator, and a security specialist. The three would work in concert with their colleagues to transport the gold bullion crates that each car was carrying. These crates weighed close to 60 kilos a piece and carried $4.7 million in gold bullion. That’s a lot of weight packed in a very dense package.

The security plan put in place was worthy of a head-of-state. In addition to the three Panameras, the convoy also included a helicopter, a security detail, and a precisely planned and rehearsed route that needed to be executed with absolute precision. Time was also important because, according to Porsche, the longer it took the gold bars to reach their destination, the greater the risk of something going awry.

At around 11 a.m. local time on Sunday morning, the convoy left the Baird & Co. refinery in route to its destination. A lead car guided the convoy as it snaked through the streets of London and after 40 pulse-pounding minutes, the convoy arrived safely at its destination. Specialist teams on standby at Hatton Garden unloaded the heavy crates from the Panameras, concluding a tense hour of waiting to see if the convoy made it to its destination. One of the most relieved people to see the journey come to an end was Baird & Co. director Nick Hammond. “In this instance, we had a very large shipment of gold to transport – which is quite rare,” he said.

“We had to rely on the cars to be absolutely reliable, to be stable, and to be more than capable of carrying the gold with capacity – in terms of performance – to spare. We didn’t want the vehicles to be anywhere near their limits, which is asking quite a lot. And, despite the phenomenal weight – and the density of the weight – the Panamera had to carry, they performed impeccably.”

All’s well that ends well, and in this case, the three Panameras and their air suspension systems deserve a lion’s share of the credit. It’s not easy to carry a 60-kilo crate with almost $5 million in gold inside it. But the three Porsches managed to do it. Now it’s basking in the glory of the publicity it generated. Well played, Porsche.

References

Porsche Panamera

Read our full review on the 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo

Read our full review on the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo.

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