Bangkok  - With street violence and assassination attempts on the rise in Thailand, automobile companies have found a lucrative new growth market - bulletproof cars - news reports said Thursday.

This week Germany's BMW AG launched its X5 Security Plus model in Thailand, marketing the vehicle as the first to offer protection against AK-47 assault rifle attacks while Ford Motor Co has offered two bulletproof cars to the deputy prime minister in charge of security, The Nation newspaper reported.

The BMW launch comes on the heels of Friday's assassination attempt on Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of last year's protests in Bangkok, whose Toyota van was riddled with more than 100 bullets from AK-47, M16 and HK33 automatic rifles.

Sondhi, miraculously, survived the attack with minor head injuries from bullet fragments, but his car was wrecked and his driver badly injured.

Sondhi was the most recent public figure to be attacked in his car.

Prime Minister Abhisit and his deputy prime minister in charge of security, Suthep Thaungsuban, on were attacked April 7 in their car by red-shirted anti-government protestors in the beach resort town Pattaya, where Thailand was scheduled to host a regional summit on April 11-12 that had to be cancelled when demonstrators swarmed the meeting's venue.

Abhisit's car was again attacked by protestors at the Interior Ministry on April 12, shortly after he declared a state of emergency in the capital, but by then he had switched to a Mercedes Benz S600 Guard model - boasting 500 steel parts - that withstood a bombardment of stones, iron poles and plant pots and whisked him from the scene.

Abhisit, who previously favoured BMWs, is now sticking to his Mercedes for getting around town, The Nation said.

He is not the first Thai prime minister to favour the model.

Fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who claimed to be the target of several assassination attempts during his controversial two-term premiership between 2001 to 2006, ordered three bulletproof Mercedes at 25 million baht (694,444 dollars) each.

Apparently, demand for bulletproof vehicles is not limited to the country's leaders.

According to The Nation, sales of bulletproof cars reached 18,000 units in 2008, compared with 4,000 eight years ago. (dpa)