By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Wednesday unveiled a new open-top popemobile, an all-electric Mercedes-Benz that Pope Francis will use when he greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
The vehicle, a modified version of the German company’s G-Class mid-size luxury SUV, has an elevated seat for Francis, so crowds have a better chance of seeing the pope.
It comes in white, the traditional papal colour, and features heating in the papal seat and in a grab bar the pope can use for balance when standing in the vehicle.
“Every detail is perfection,” Sten Ola Kallenius, board chair and CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Group, told Reuters. It took “hundreds of hours of craftsmanship … to build a one-of-a-kind popemobile,” he said.
The Vatican did not immediately say when the new popemobile would come into service, and declined to provide any information about the vehicle’s security features.
Mercedes officials declined to say how much the vehicle had cost.
Francis, who has been pope since March 2013, has largely shunned the use of bulletproof vehicles, preferring to be as close to people as possible.
Francis has also stressed the importance of environmental issues throughout his papacy. Mercedes officials called the new vehicle the first all-electric popemobile, but Francis has also used electric cars on some of his foreign trips.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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