These Saudi-spec Lucid Air police cruisers come complete with a drone that can launch from its roof.
Criminals in Saudi Arabia might want to rethink their choice of getaway car for their bank heists now, as the middle-eastern kingdom has recently showcased its new police cruisers that is based upon the Lucid Air.
Unveiled on February 4th at the World Defence Show in Riyadh, this fleet of cop-spec e-sedans are likely to as be much aiding in the country’s efforts to reduce criminal activity as it is to its CO2 emissions. This also incidentally sees for Saudi Arabia to have massively stepped up their police car game, which has long since been dominated by its usually neighbouring state of the United Arab Emirates with their flashy super(cop)cars.
From the outside, it is observed for among the modifications to turn the Lucid sedan into a cop car to include the obligatory black-and-white panda livery. Also observed are the “Police” lettering that shows up on its bonnet and along its doors on either side, in the company of Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Public Security logo.
Though perhaps what is the most intriguing add-on to the Air’s exterior is to be what initially appears to be an overly large strobe light on its roof. That large roof-mounted accessory however is in fact a carrier for a police drone, which, with the press of a button, sees for the upper casing to opens and enabling the drone to launch from it.
Unfortunately, there has been no detail provided regarding the changes within these cop-spec Lucids. It is however hypothesised for there to be the typical add-ons of extra screens and other auxiliary communications equipment, in addition to likely a larger first aid supply as well as the small chance of some additional weaponry.
Likewise, there is no information regarding the version of the Airs being part of the police fleet in Saudi Arabia, but the wheel designs do suggest for it to be based upon the entry-level Pure variant. This in turn sees for these cop cars to be powered by a single rear-mounted motor that makes just the 430 horsepower, instead of the tri-motor Sapphire’s Bugatti-rivalling headline 1,234 hp.
With a century sprint time of only 4.5 seconds and a more-than-reasonable top speed of 200 km/h however, these cop cars should still be capable of keeping up with any miscreant trying to perform a getaway in anything this side of a Porsche 911. What more too with a EPA-rated range of 660 km (for the civilian spec cars) at least, these Lucid cop cars should be more than capable of patrolling the kingdom all day long without the need for a top up.
According the the Saudi Arabian police, these Lucid Air cruisers will be making its official debut next week. The sedan has however already been spotted cruising in the King’s motorcade since last week.
Now as for why Saudi Arabia has decided to go with a fleet of Lucid Airs as their cop cars, it is worth remembering that the kingdom’s sovereign fund does indeed own up to 60 percent of the shares in said EV manufacturer. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) has also previously invested $10 billion in the automaker, with the local government having previously entered into an agreement with it to purchase up to 100,000 EVs over the next decade too.
In fact, Lucid’s relationship with the Saudis is so close that the automaker currently has the only EV factory in the region. The facility has been in operation there since September 2023, with an annual production capacity of 5,000 units.
