The Pope’s BMW X5

"We are proud to be able to provide Pope Benedict XVI with a BMW car," the group's chief of marketing and sales, Michael Ganal, said in a statement following an audience with the pontiff.

Benedict hails from the small Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, about an hour's drive from Munich, where BMW is based.

Apart from a fleet of BMW C1 covered scooters, the official Vatican car park only has one BMW 5-Series executive and one 7-Series limousine.

The well-known "Popemobile" by comparison is a modified M-Class SUV built in 1999 by BMW's arch rival Mercedes-Benz.

The first Popemobile was delivered in 1981 after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

Stepping up security measures, the Vatican equipped the G-Class with the distinctive bubble in which the pontiff waves to the faithful behind armoured glass.

"This vehicle is not the Popemobile," a spokesman for BMW said, referring to the X5 now parked in the Vatican.

Benedict -- Joseph Ratzinger -- was elected pope in April. The following month an Internet casino company won a frenzied online auction for a second-hand Volkswagen Golf once registered to Cardinal Ratzinger.