Armored BMW i7 Will Be the First of Its Kind

• BMW plans armored variant of the i7 electric sedan, following the debut of the standard model later this year.

• The automaker has offered a lineup of factory-armored models for decades, sold mostly to heads of state and businesspeople in Europe and Asia.

• BMW is expected to continue offering armored versions of some of its gas-engined models, including the 7-Series, for at least another decade.

There are plenty of BMW models that we just don't see stateside, and aside from the usual curiosities like 7-Series models with four-cylinder engines or city cars like the 2-Series Active Tourer, Munich has seldom sent its factory-armored cars stateside. Kofi Annan had an armored E38-generation 7-Series in New York during his tenure as UN Secretary General, but that was likely your best chance of seeing one of these rare sedans on this side of the Atlantic.

But just like Mercedes-Benz, BMW has an in-house division for producing armored versions of some of its models, which have traditionally included the 7-Series and the BMW X5. The High Security models, as they're officially known, are a much more common sight in Europe and the Middle East.

Times are changing, and with the debut of electric models, perhaps it was only a matter of time before we saw factory-armored versions of the top German sedans. And it didn't take as long as we thought.