Fisker is working on electric Popemobile

The American luxury car brand Fisker is going to produce an electric Popemobile for the Vatican. It will be based on the Fisker Ocean, an SUV that the company plans to launch at the end of next year.

The two founders of Fisker met with the Pope on Thursday to show him their vision for an electric Pope car. The car would become a Fisker Ocean, but with the characteristic turret on top, from which the Pope can greet crowds. Fisker does not report how the Pope has reacted to the designs.

Fisker also does not write about any bullet- and explosion-resistant glass for the turret. The well-known Mercedes-Benz M-Class from the Vatican, for example, does have that; it was widely used by Pope Benedict XVI, predecessor of the current Pope, Francis.

It is not the first fully electric car that the Vatican would get its hands on. The BBC wrote that the Papacy got a fully electric Renault Kangoo in 2012, but that didn’t become the new main transport due to a lack of security measures, such as that bullet-resistant glass. If this really becomes the new Pausmobiel, it will be the very first electric variant.