Yesterday I had the opportunity to see the future of law enforcement vehicles. And it’s pretty cool.
No. It’s way beyond cool.
Carbon Motors E7 police car in Savannah.
The coolness was on display down at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center in a public event that, well, really wasn’t publicized all that well. I happened to hear about it from my good friends over at the Creative Coast, and being into cool stuff, went down to check it out.
Straight off the company executives made a big point about how no one would be allowed to touch the car, which seemed kind of strange to me. I mean granted they don’t want some doofus breaking the $5 million prototype that they are staking the future of their entire company on. But shouldn’t a police car be at least somewhat doofusproof?
Of course they then proceeded to parade any law enforcement personnel that wanted a closer look through a tour of the interior, pushing all the buttons and touching whatever the heck they wanted.
That part I get. All the police officers had guns. You walk up to my car with a gun and I’ll probably let you sit in the driver’s seat too. Touch whatever you want. And I’ll smile while you’re doing it, just like they did.
I briefly thought that perhaps I should have brought my Glock stuffed down the back of my shorts like Magnum used to do. Though somehow I don’t think that would have gone over so well in a room full of police officers.
I took my pictures from a distance. But I digress.
The Car
Carbon Motors E7 police car. Suicide doors are cool.
The car is a prototype built by Carbon Motors. They’re a start-up car manufacturer that is looking to build their E7, which has been especially designed for law enforcement from the ground up.
It makes sense when you think about it. Right now, to get a police car they start with a car that was built for the comfort of folks like you and me (and I do like my comforts) like a Crown Victoria, for example. Then they add everything from light bars to more powerful brakes and extra electronics as well as tear out things that aren’t needed. (Want to keep a suspect from opening the rear door during transport and escaping? Ditch the door handle.)
Instead, Carbon Motors has started from the ground up with a specialty law enforcement vehicle. With the E7 there’s no need to pay for things like normal brakes that are only going to be removed and thrown away to make room for more powerful (and more expensive) brakes. The emergency lighting is built conformally into the body so that there isn’t extra drag (which means gives the E7 improved fuel economy) or holes drilled through the roof (reducing corrosion start points on the E7).
They’ve managed to engineer a car that beats most of the current popular police vehicles in both performance and in fuel efficiency. And they did it with a 300 horse power diesel engine.
High Tech
And when you get inside it gets even more cooler. Poor grammar I know, but it’s true.
Carbon Motors E7 police car. No door handle to let a perp escape through the suicide door.
First thing a geeky guy like me notices on the inside is the huge electronic display console on the dashboard and between the front seats. Imagine a laptop sized iPhone planted where your car stereo is and you begin to get the idea.
That touch screen display can pull up all kinds of policely information. For example, there are external cameras on the car that recognize license plates (we call them “tags” down here) and the car can pull up the info on the car associated with that plate (tag?) with just a touch.
But it gets better. Suppose the officer is in hot puruit of the vehicle. Looking away from his driving to find the spot on the screen to touch could be dangerous, right? Well the E7 has built in voice recognition commands so the officer can shout out police speak for “tell me the scoop on this car I’m chasing” and the car will pull up the info, without even needing a touch.
It gets even better, though. That’s the active mode. There’s also a passive mode for the plate/tag recognition. The car can be set to record all the tags it comes across while on patrol.
So say there’s a bank robbery and some sharp eyed bystander notes the registration of the get away car. And let’s further suppose that your city has a whole fleet of E7′s on the street. If any car spots that tag it can alert the officer, “Bank robbers dead ahead.”
Or maybe there’s an Amber Alert. If they know the registration of the vehicle involved in the abduction, police departments can go back through the patrol records of the cars looking for that tag. By piecing together where the E7′s were when they saw the suspect car the police can get a good idea where it is going and track down the suspect. Did I mention that the video is synced with GPS and map data? Think Google Street View, but much closer to real time.
Look out bad guys. Big Brother is going to be watching!
Marketing the E7
So besides totally maxing out the coolness scale, how does this have anything at all to do with SuccessCREEations?
Well I think the good folks at Carbon Motors can improve how they are getting the word out about their very practical purpose built (and very cool) law enforcement vehicle. Getting more exposure would likely attract more potential investors and potential orders at the same time.
Carbon Motors E7 police car in Savannah. But for how long?
From a brief conversation I had with one of the Carbon Motors executives, their entire focus has been in getting the vehicle in front of the law enforcement community. From the turn out at the room, which I’m guessing was at least 90% law enforcement, that part is working.
However there was very little attention paid to the event by the local media. The local paper had a 539 word write up and one of the local TV stations mentioned it on their web site with only 200 words!
Especially when you consider that Savannah is lobbying hard to entice Carbon Motors to locate their manufacturing plant here that complete lack of local press coverage is unbelievable. Even combining those two press mentions with the article in the Creative Coast that I mentioned at the top of this post and my blog post here more than doubles the coverage of the event in Savannah yesterday.
Hitting Social Media
If I had any influence with the folks at Carbon Motors, and since I don’t carry a side arm I really don’t, but if I did I would encourage them to add a social media component to their marketing efforts.
Winning over law enforcement is a good idea. But reaching the law enforcement community shouldn’t come at the cost of ignoring the general population. Voters can influence budgets and purchasing decisions to some extent. Politicians who make budget decisions are keen to keep their voting constituents happy.
And if a sizable portion of them are hollering that the current patrol cars aren’t as safe or cost effective and E7′s should be phased in, the politicians will respond accordingly.
They have a blog. Can you say boring?!
It’s obviously written by an executive. OK. That can be a good thing. Someone at the top of the company is interested in getting their message out.
The trouble is the blog is all about the different locations that are trying to become home to their manufacturing plant. Sure, that’s something that is incredibly important to the company. But no one else cares! That stuff isn’t going to attract any attention. At least not any positive attention.
Get someone to blog about the car!
Talk about it’s overwhelming coolness. Explain with enthusiasm how much better and safer and cost effective your purpose built car is over existing modified civilian vehicles.
Talk about the cool places the car is visiting on your tour. Savannah is a cool place. Tell people about it as a backdrop for your car. Show your car in their cities so that people can see your car as a critical part of their local police force.
The E7 oozes coolness, with the conforming light panels flashing, Television would eat it up. Get it on the local news programs. People would start talking about it.
Get on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Encourage people to participate. Did you know I was on Twitter telling folks about your car? From the Event. I posted photos of your car on Flickr.
Hire someone who loves cars to blog about your incredibly cool machine. But make sure he’s got a little doofus in him. The last thing you want is more boring blog posts.
The reason Top Gear is the single most watched TV program in the world is because the hosts are NOT car experts. In fact they often tread deep into doofus territory. They are sure are entertaining, though.
And that’s what your blog needs. They say “facts tell and stories sell”. Don’t let your blog get buried in boring facts.
Because the bottom line is, our police departments need your car. I’d like to see you build it here in Savannah. And hire an entertaining doofus to blog about it.
Word! This car looks absolutely amazing. I bet all of Savannah’s bravest were drooling over the E7. Looking forward to seeing it cruising down the streets of Savannah someday. Preferably not behind me!
You got that right. ‘Cause if it was behind you they got your tag on video!
wow, this car seems so awesome!!
WoW, with all these high-tech vehicles, Savannah will soon turn into the scene like “Gotham City”…
I want to drive this car in Hyderabad.
Reminds me of that one movie with sylvester stallone and wesley snipes. Where they were in the future, stallone was a cop, snipes was a bad guy. I can’t think of the name but the cars in that movie look exactly the same!
That is one damn cool looking car….
My initial thought was that it was going to be green in some way…. However diesel is a good start.. I wonder how it performs on bio diesel?
The plate recognition is amazing…. Am I getting it right, you could be cruising around minding your business muching away on a donut and the computer is analyzing every plate it sees? So it will start yapping at you if it sees a bad plate?? If so… then I can’t wait to see these on the streets.
The main problem with having such hi-tec computer systems and car is that the hi-tec crooks will no-doubt find a way to hack and block them….. they are always one step ahead…. Maybe the should work on a get-away car too?
I guess you could say it’s green in that it has both more horsepower and a bit higher fuel economy than current cruisers while having less waste. Also they don’t build it with parts that are immediately stripped off, discarded and replaced on conversion.
From what they told me, that’s how the camera thing could work. Of course if they were smart, they’d make that a value added “optional” feature to upsell.
You probably drove (no pun intended) more traffic to their site with this one post that they did since they launched their blog.
Aw, common. You know you meant the pun.
I’m not sure I have that big an audience, though it would be nice if I did!
Sadly, I would imagine that these cars cost quite a bit (I didn’t see estimated cost in your article, apologize if I missed it). Police companies are all on limited budgets, often their own option is to buy a mass produced vehicle with a police upgrade. It would be great though if they were like the military, had a much more unlimited budget, and could make one that they could really use from ground up
Wow that looks awesome! I agree with reaching out to the voters instead of the law enforcement agencies. At the end of the day this will be a taxpayer purchase, and if it helps clean up the streets, I’m all in!
Nice car. Looks like something straight out of a batman movie.
Diesel- future of high mileage vehicles, and yes, go to the ultimate user. The will have to create the demand, that begins with education– and the a bit if a buzz, perfect for social marketing.
So are you calling them up?
Articles like this give me hope. Everyone’s talking about eco cars, crysis and cost cutting. Without money on development we wouldn’t see these concepts. Anyone has 5mln for better concept car?
wow, this car is amazing and I totally agree with your social media plan, it would be much better to the car image at the community.
Well, as awesome as that might be, I still prefer the one the Italians have
http://www.ridelust.com/wp-content/uploads/ferrari_cop_car_italy.jpg
i will be afraid for sure when i see those guys chasing me
With regards to the event organisers not letting anybody go near the car, well I think its justified from what happens to concept cars that tour round car manufacturers events.
They’re expensive, and of course people are careful… but for some reason or anything, they ALWAYS end up getting scratched or dented. Whether its just due to the sheer footfall around the car, or perhaps malicious rivals taking a small swipe at revenge.
So history simply tells these organisers… ‘Just… Just don’t let people go near the car, your baby will get hurt, police car or not’.
Simon,
UUuuuUH! Were nice ride, can i get myself one?
hhehe
Nice car. Looks like something straight out of a batman movie, like someone said:)).Keep up the great work!
Yes this is nice car. This is from NFS?
Only the cops could touch it? They all have greasy hands from eating so many doughnuts. What makes the cops any different than other civilians at the convention center?
I have to agree that ignoring social media is the biggest mistake nowadays. Since it was a show, didn’t they want as much people as possible to go see it? It doesn’t cost any money to publicize on social media websites.
ooh that is awesome brother
nice artikel
byme
very nice car. I really liked it
The car looks like it came straigh out of a Robocop movie… nice!
I know that you were referring to TV Media eating this car up, but if they want to get the buzz going for their car, I would take the first 10 of them and *give* them to producers of cop shows.
Don’t make any big deal about it in the show. No one cop to another saying, “Hey, you got the new custom build E7 Interceptor. The Lieutenant must really like you.”. The new car just becomes what a modern cop car looks like. Do have the TV cops use some of the special features like grabbing tags automatically with video, or using voice commands. People might actually begin to understand that this isn’t just a Crown Vic with a radio and a shotgun rack. And no worries that viewers might not understand that this is something different. Not when they stuff some perp in the back through those suicide doors.
Then once it because just part of the scenery, police departments won’t get citizen outrage for spending 50 grand on a custom car, when they can’t afford 20 for their own.
Wow, those lame cop cars we have here in Holland are crushed by the looks of this beast!
Hah, if you just knew what are the cops here in Bulgaria… They will look at that car as it was a spaceship…
Hello all!
We very much appreciate the lively discussion. I thought I would take a moment to comment on some of the items above:
1. This is a demonstration vehicle, not a production vehicle. For the same reasons one is not allowed on the turntables at auto shows to sample the upcoming goods, we have to protect our beloved E7. When officers were escorted into the vehicle by a member of Carbon’s team, they too were instructed to touch only when permitted. As a former officer myself, I can tell you this initially goes over like a lead balloon, but they all completely understand once the above clarification is made. The production model will be “cop-proof”.
2. All forms of media are welcomed in to view Carbon’s E7 – including social media. Introduce yourself and let us know who you are. No need to keep your distance.
3. Social media suggestions are certainly welcome. Keep in mind that at this time our Web site has a broad audience. We’ll contain our inner-dufus for now. We do have the Carbon Council – a private forum for our customers. We have much more candid and free-flowing discussions there, all of which surround the coolness of the vehicle.
4. Several team members have accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and a wealth of law enforcement sites.
5. Local Media – In all fairness, two other television crews showed up later in the afternoon. We have also received national media attention on FOX and CNN, with more to come soon…
6. This particular event was actually put on by a group of folks in the Savannah area to help Carbon Motors get to know the community better as we evaluate our options on locating our Carbon Campus. We sincerely appreciate everyone who showed up and we enjoyed meeting you all.
Stacy
Co-founder and Sales Development Manager
Carbon Motors Corporation
I remember reading about this car a few months ago, maybe in Popular Mechanics or on some other website. It does look pretty cool and they definitely have some high-tech gadgetry in there. Still, I have mixed feelings about it because while it will help police officers be more effective at fighting crime, it will also give them more power and more opportunity to abuse that power. Additionally, how much will one of these things cost? Certainly more than an upgraded Crown Victoria… -Ben
My small town police should have these for their use.
Nice little toys.
A very good point.
Thank you very much. Thanks for the write
I’m waiting for more articles
I want to drive this car in istanbul.
This car model is very cool, comfortable and useful for department.
Wow i wanna be a cop to drive a car like this hahahaha
Interesting article. But I doubt that such a car will be used by our ‘friendly’ police department. It’s too expensive. They would have to increase our taxes by 100%.
WOW what a car
That does sound like a pretty awesome police car, and it seems to be able to do a lot of stuff that would actually be useful. The only thing it needs now are front-mounted machine guns and oil slick.
Now here’s a vehicle that will also catch the young dudes with very fast motorcycles who always seem to mess with the police.
garage flooring
i remember i saw something like this in a movie called demolition man.
looks like movie is coming to life.
i love it.
this is a eye candy car.
very catchy and good.
definitely part of my wallpaper collection.
Its great to hear that in some countries Police is getting luxury cars to catch the criminals otherwise in a country like India you will only find an old Mahindra Jeep with maximum speed of 40 kilometer per hour.
that car is amazing. finally companies are building police cars from the ground up, instead of modifying cars to do the job. remember when all police department used crown victorias and chevy caprices, those cars were unsafe in alot of situations.
Very Nice Police car and government to take care of police dept and they guys should be less from latest technology
THE CAR IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA. BUT IT WILL TAKE SOME GETTING USE TO ON THE LICENSE PLATE ISSUE AS FOR EVERY BAD PLATE TAG IT WILL REQUIRE AN OFFICER TO IMMEDIATELY RESPOND AND THAT WILL TAKE TIME AND TIME IS MONEY. THE POLICE WOULD NEVER MAKE IT ENROUTE TO THE THE NEIGHBORHOODS OR OTHER SCHEDULED DUTIES DUE TO THE % OF BAD PLATES THAT THEY WOULD ENCOUNTER. NOTE: A WISE IDEA WOULD BE TO INCORPORATE A CRASH CAGE INSIDE OF THE FRAME WORK OF THE CAR , A HIGH PERFORMANCE DIESEL ENGINE – A CAR THAT COULD EASILY HAVE A 12-15 YEAR LIFE EXPECTANCY. WITH THE DESEL ENGINE IT COULD ALSO ACT AS ALSO AS A EMERGENCY GENERATOR FOR USE AT ACCIDENT SCENE OR NATURE CATASTROPHIES. REMEMBER IT IS A EVER CHANGING WORLD AND REPLACING CARS EVERY 5 TO 6 YEARS IS GET OLD AND OUT DATED.
Most depts just impound your car. Once you are arrested they voucher all your property. Your car is property, just like your wallet, keys, etc.. Once you are arrrested they don’t need your permission to search your car.
Our policemen really needed sophisticated hi-tech vehicles as the criminals too are being more advanced.
Wow – that cop car looks tight. I just wonder if most city’s police department budgets will be cut over the next few years with the economy in the toilet. I did not see a mention of price in this article. I’m sure they do not have a price set yet, since they haven’t started production yet.
In the long run I could see this model being affordable for police dept’s (since you mentioned unneded parts would not be bought), but I think in the beginning the price would be high for the E7m only because they would need to build the manufacturing plants. etc. Just my thought, although the car is cool!
Nice work on your carbon motors. If everyone could be as customer focused as you, life would be so much easier. Best. Product. Ever!
Thanks for sharing news which wasn’t publicized all that well.This car is exactly what police should have in order to prevent crimes. But on the moment it only reminds me ” fantastic” movies! Hope to see it on the street soon!
whew.. cool car!! but surely the price is expensive, eh??
Good car and now goverment is understanding of the demand of police…Keep It up dude..
Hey this is awesome! This is gonna hit the market with bang. The police is really lucky to ride this without any extra cost!
Looks like a great car for the purpose intended. That said a Ferrari would be great for my purposes but unfortunately the budget is a little short. I’m not expecting the LAPD Budget to be stretching to many of these in the current financial climate – they’ll probably stick with the Ferraris as the cheap option
I don’t doubt one of the major manufactureres will take this idea and make it work financially based on one of their current (cheap) platforms.
When the police car catches the speeding car they certainly do not have the same velocity. The police car catches up with the speeding car because it has a higher velocity than the speeding car.
It looks like a car right out of Transformers!
I thought when they upgraded their cars to Dodge Chargers it was a pretty big upgrade. It looks like it has a face!
The features seem amazing and this kind of security measures are really needed in Police vehicle.
As a retired Military police officer, I can appreciate new technology in the law enforcement field. This definitely offers features that cops will surely appreciate.
Wait – How much did that cost? It’s cool and all – but that must cost a fortune – as force of those in a recession?
Hah, if you just knew what are the cops here in Bulgaria… They will look at that car as it was a spaceship…
This car looks amazing. I can imagine that if it was in use in the UK though it would actually cause accidents as people would spend so much time staring at it that they’d end up rear-ending the car in front of them!
Hey this is awesome! This is gonna hit the market with bang. The police is really lucky to ride this without any extra cost!