President Obama said last week that contrary to his requests and due to security reasons, his presidential limousine could not be a hybrid vehicle.

“I asked can we make these cars hybrids,” Obama said at a town hall in Charlotte, North Carolina last friday.

“Secret Service said no. Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys. It’s because the cars that I’m in are like tanks.”

The president explained because his limo – nicknamed “the beast” is reinforced for security reasons, and weighs over two times the normal weight of cars, “they just couldn’t get the performance in terms of acceleration using a hybrid engine.”

Instead his five-metre long armoured transport is rumoured to be powered by a 8.0-litre V8 turbo diesel that uses three times more fuel than an average family car – around 30 litres per 100km.

The administration this week announced that after a review, they have purchased more than 5,000 hybrid cars and trucks as part of the federal fleet of vehicles.

Source: ABC News