The Fastest Police Cars in the World: Bugattis and Corvettes

When reporting on and reviewing high-end sports cars, we often ask ourselves, who needs this much speed? Even if you have the means to procure a car that tops 200 mph, when are you ever going to put pedal to the metal outside the confines of a well-regulated track experience? Then again, we are writing from the point of view of law-abiding citizens; for those who play fast and loose with speed limits, you may have no qualms about triple-digit cars.

Be aware, though, that certain police departments around the world also dabble in these luxury speed machines. A new report from Australian review site Chasing Cars actually takes a look at the fastest police cars in every country in the world, and while there are plenty of middle-of-the-road Toyotas, the top 20 list will certainly shock American taxpayers.

The United Arab Emirates takes no less than 10 spots in the fastest 20 in the world, the top two being particularly ridiculous in price and speed. The leader is their Bugatti Veyron, which tops out at 253 mph and costs about $1.9 million, while second place is the uber-rare Lykan HyperSport from W Motors, which achieves 245 mph but costs an eye-watering $3.4 million, which as Chasing Cars notes is more money than numbers five to 20 combined. (You may be familiar with this lavish machine from the Fast & Furious franchise.)

The Dubai police force also includes a couple Ferraris, a couple Bentleys, a Mercedes, an Audi and a McLaren (and that’s not even the full list). But while this seems like an unbeatable super-team of enforcement vehicles, the article notes that the cars are mostly for show, existing to patrol touristy areas “to project a luxury image of the Dubai police,” as we noted back in 2016.

That doesn’t mean all the cars on this list serve marketing purposes. In fact, last year we reported on a Lamborghini Huracan owned by the Italian police that was tapped to race a donor kidney 300 miles to a hospital. (And that’s not even the fastest Lamborghini in their fleet; that would be the Gallardo.)

So where does the U.S. slot in the list? Not to be outdone, except by two frankly insane hypercars, the fastest police car in the States is reportedly a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 owned by the New Braunfels Police Department in Texas. Capable of hitting 228 mph, the car is nicknamed “Coptimus Prime” and was seized from a “drug trafficker with Mexican cartel ties.”

Unfortunately, that one serves a similar job as the UAE convoy, acting as an outreach tool instead of a day-to-day speed-ticket server. Still, I wouldn’t test your luck in New Braunfels.