Porsche Helps Transport Nearly $14M in Gold Bars

It has all the makings of a movie plot, with three Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismos transporting nearly $14 million in gold.

Last week Baird & Co., one of Britain’s leading bullion merchants and gold refiners, needed to organize a shipment of gold from its refinery to its new London showroom in Hatton Garden. A total of 24 bars needed to be moved, each weighing about 27.5 pounds (12.5 kilograms), with a combined value of approximately $13,787,800 (£10,000,000). But instead of sourcing a security company, Baird invited Porsche to assist with transporting the shipment.

Getting to the vault was a 12-mile journey across London, a trip that obviously carries an inherent risk. In order to reduce the risk, Baird & Co. wanted the gold to be transported with great efficiency, under careful watch, and that time was of the essence. The longer it would take the gold to reach its destination, the greater the risk, said Porsche.

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So three Panamera Turbo Sport Turismos were called upon (one being a Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo) offering the performance and space necessary to do the transport. Each of the cars had to be capable of carrying four adults and have the load capacity to house two specially-designed gold bullion crates.

Along with a helicopter and security staff on the ground, the three Panamera Turbo Sport Turismos completed the precisely planned and previously rehearsed 12-mile trip in about 40 minutes.

“In this instance, we had a very large shipment of gold to transport – which is quite rare,” said Nick Hammond, director of Baird & Co. “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.”