

Abu Dhabi police unveiled their latest acquisition cop car, a Rolls Royce Phantom tricked out in purple and white, the colors of the state police force. It’s the newest addition to the fleet of United Arab Emirates (UAE) police supercars.

The car debuted at Yas Mall on Sunday and marked the opening of Gulf Cooperation Council Traffic Week in Abu Dhabi. The slogan for this year’s traffic safety campaign is, ‘Your Choice Determines Your Destiny’. So what does this car choice tell us about Abu Dhabi’s destiny?

In October 2010, the World Wildlife Fund called out the oil-rich emirate as one of the world’s highest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita. Since then, the state has become synonymous with Arab-world leadership with significant investment in green tech, focused research and development in the sustainability sector, and widespread efforts on the municipal level to curb energy and water consumption.

Abu Dhabi boasts the world’s largest concentrated solar power facility, SHAMS I. It’s home to Masdar City with its net-zero carbon ambitions, and host of annual green summit Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. The emirate supports a robust roster of ambitious projects ranging from a 100MW waste-to-energy facility to smaller initiatives with long-term impacts.

So how to explain the ridiculous cop car?

The Phantom has a 6.8-liter V12 engine capable of producing 453bhp power and 720Nm torque at 3500rpm. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/hr in 6.1 seconds and has a top speed of 240 km/hr. The luxury wheels will be used to promote tourism, and not to chase road warriors and criminals.

The out-sized acquisition continues the tradition begun by Dubai Police, whose fleet of police cars includes a Lamborghini Aventador, an Aston Martin One-77, a Mercedes SLS, a Bentley Continental GT Speed, a Ferrari FF and a McLaren MP4-12C.

Manufacturer suggested retail price for the car hovers around $450,000 USD. Green Prophet cannot credibly compare it’s worth compared to other cars cruising Gulf roads, like the white-gold Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren shown above, but it still will turn heads on the highway. Fortunately, it’s license plate will tag it as a police car since it features the emergency assistance telephone number 999.

Gulf schizophrenia is a head scratcher. Surely, this car doesn’t undo the nation’s forward steps in sustainability. But each time news like this breaks – so readily shared on social media – it undermines the emirate’s leadership position as a post-oil pioneer.

Abu Dhabi police just raised the stakes in UAE police car poker. What do you think will people be more interested in, the Rolls or this week’s launch of the Solar Impulse 2?

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