Jankel

Robert Jankel

Robert Jankel was a British designer of limousines, armoured cars and other speciality vehicles. He founded the Jankel Group in 1955, were he concentrated on building specialist versions of cars for other high-end manufacturers, mostly Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.

Most of Jankel's work from the 1990s to his death in 2005 was dedicated to building police vehicles, high-protection armoured cars and exotic luxury stretch limousines. In 1995, Jankel produced armoured cars for law enforcement agencies, including the Metropolitan Police.

Robert Jankel was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001, but remained an active member of the Jankel Group until his death on 25 May 2005.

1980s

Jankel continued to evolve; in the early 1980s it became exclusive subcontractor to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for the Silver Spur Limousine and by the late 1980s it was supplying coachbuilt limousines and discreetly armoured saloons to the British and other governments as well as commercial customers worldwide.

Around this time Jankel obtained Government Security Clearance in the UK to enable security-conscious customers to work with Jankel on the most secretive and sensitive special vehicle projects.

1990s

In the 1990s working closely with the UK Ministry of Defence Jankel developed the first a range of armoured vehicles which are brought by internal security forces, police forces and military special users worldwide.

In 1999 Jankel entered into a collaborative venture with the King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau of Jordan ("KADDB"). This collaboration, Jordan Light Vehicle Manufacturing (JLVM) enabled Jankel to reduce it sale prices and increase its production volume by offering its customers UK designed and engineered armoured vehicles, now built in Jordanian low labour cost environment, but with the same materials and components as used in vehicles used in the UK.

2000s

In 2004 Jankel secured its first Long Term Supply Agreement with the United Nations and the need to service this contract and the large multiple-vehicle orders placed by other customers required JLVM to set about enlarging its Jordanian factory to 35,000 square metres. This was completed in 2007 and, depending on the complexity of the armouring required, provides sufficient capacity for 600–1,000 armoured vehicles per annum to be built.

In 2007, for vehicles without an occupant protection system, Jankel developed its MAPIK product, a quick-fit lightweight modular armour system to provide zoned ballistic and fragmentation protection.

During 2008 Jankel incorporated Jankel Tactical Systems LLC (“JTS”) in the USA 35,000 sq ft of industrial and office space was leased in Duncan, South Carolina as a manufacturing and operational base. JTS secured its first armour order and in 2011 its first BLASTech order for a production run of over 65,000 seats in a factory that now needed to be increased to 90,000 sq ft.

In 2009 Chrysler appointed Jankel to market to governments and military in certain markets their Jeep J8 (a “militarised” Jeep Wrangler) and an extensive range of complementary Jankel designed-and-built enhancement kits. These kits, which enable the base J8 vehicle to be used in a variety of roles, were developed by Jankel under the trading name of JGMS (an acronym for Jeep Government & Military Sales), Jankel’s first J8 customer was the US Government who in 2011, purchased a fleet of kit-enhanced J8 Jeeps for UN peace keeping operations. Chrysler also appointed Africa Automotive Distribution Services (AADS) to market the J8 to governments and military in certain markets.