Rio and São Paulo make Brazil break records for armored cars; BYD Song Plus is the favorite of armor

The most armored car in Brazil today is a Chinese plug-in hybrid. The BYD Song Plus led the first half of 2026 with 1,069 units protected, ahead of the Toyota Corolla Cross (804) and the Jeep duo — Commander (547) and Compass (506). The data are from the Brazilian Shielding Association (Abrablin).

In total, the Army issued 17,290 armor authorizations from January to June, an increase of 4.6% over the same period in 2025. Among the brands, the leadership remains with Toyota, which accounts for 13.5% of the volume thanks to the sum of Corolla Cross and Corolla.

The change at the top is recent. In 2025, the most armored model in the country was the Corolla Cross, with 2,550 units. Song Plus took the lead in the first quarter of this year and sustained the position in the semester. It’s not just a change of name in the lead, because installing an electrified one requires adaptation from the workshops: the battery pack already changes the weight distribution before any ballistic plate is added.

Why the armor line doesn’t get shorter

According to the president of Abrablin, Andréia Canassa, the feeling of insecurity in large capitals is the main driver of demand. She also cites the arrival of new technologies on the market as a factor that should sustain the pace in the second half of the year, and expects 2026 to close above 2025 – it would be the sixth consecutive year of record. The beginning of the year provides the basis for the projection: in the first quarter alone, there were 8,550 authorizations, 6.5% more than the 8,029 in the same period in 2025.

The 17,290 of the semester are authorizations formalized in Sicovab. Abrablin’s market estimate, assembled with its associates — about 80% of the national production of armored vehicles — points to another level: 42,800 armored vehicles in all of 2025, about 24% above the 34,402 in 2024.

There is also a third measure: the Army’s administrative records totaled 38,716 certificates in 2025. The difference of about 4 thousand vehicles is attributed to the methodology — market projection on the one hand, document counting on the other. The three values measure different things and should not be directly compared with each other.

SUV, São Paulo and level III-A

The ranking of the 20 most armored vehicles is almost all SUVs. GWM alone puts four names on the list (Haval H6, Haval H9, Wey 07 and Tank 300), and only the Corolla and the Mitsubishi Triton pickup escape the segment.

Geography remains concentrated: São Paulo accounted for 61.7% of the 2025 records in the Army’s dashboard; with Rio de Janeiro, the pair reaches 78%. Abrablin estimates that more than 425,000 armored vehicles circulate in Brazil today, practically all of them at level III-A, which resists shots from larger-caliber handguns.

It has also changed who seeks the service. About ten years ago, approximately 80% of armored vehicle owners were men; Today, female participation is close to 50% of the market, according to the sector.