The Italian supercar maker, a member of the Volkswagen Group, has just handed over the keys to its second-generation Gallardo cop car to Prefect Antonio Manganelli, head of the Italian state police, in a private ceremony at the Palazzo Viminale here. The new model replaces the original Gallardo previously used by the Italian police — which has clocked nearly 87,000 miles since 2004 — for patrol duty and emergency medical transport.
The new patrol car is painted blu Polizia with white stripes and lettering, and has a low-profile blue-LED gumball machine on the roof, plus those distinctive Euro sirens front and rear. The all-wheel-drive Gallardo LP560-4 boasts a 5.2-liter V10 that makes 552 horsepower and reaches a top speed of 203 mph.
Before adding all the special equipment, the standard LP560-4 retails for just over $200,000. For the Italian police, Lamborghini has thoughtfully provided all kinds of high-tech goodies, including an onboard video system with a camera that can transmit real-time images to a central control room for automatic recognition of number plates.
Did we say "high tech"? The Lambo squad car also comes equipped with a gun holster and a paletta, the traditional handheld stop sign that Italian cops use to advise offenders to pull over. Once stopped, an officer can trot out a removable display with GPS data on the subject's location and speed, presumably making traffic tickets a slam-dunk in court. (The onboard defibrillator may come in handy in extreme cases.)
Thirty police officers — three women and 27 men — have received special driver training from Lamborghini test-drivers. Be advised: Patrols begin immediately in central and southern Italy, primarily on the autostrada between Salerno and Calabria.
Inside Line says: Planning a spring trip to Italy? Beware the rides of March... — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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