Cape Town motorists will be familiar with the Ghost Squad, a specialist Traffic Services unit roaming the Mother City in unmarked vehicles.
These undercover officers are most often seen driving in unmarked Volkswagen Golf GTIs, although one of two more nondescript vehicles have also been used over the years (including Honda motorcycles).
And now, according to the Cape Argus, 11 new vehicles will be added to the undercover fleet, taking the total to around 30 cars.
So, which vehicles have been purchased? Well, while the City of Cape Town is obviously keen to keep the identity of the new cars under wraps, the newspaper report does reveal that all 11 bear the Lexus badge.
“The traffic services department requires higher specification vehicles for chasing perpetrators,” said JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security.
“The department needs to be well resourced with reliable vehicles that will offer maximum efficiency. The vehicles selected through a tender process, were found to be most suitable,” Smith said, according to the Argus.
The newspaper furthermore reported that each new vehicle cost R473 099 after being “fitted with all the accessories to do their job”. It’s an interesting figure, seeing that the Toyota-backed brand’s cheapest vehicle currently on the local new vehicle market is the CT 200h hybrid hatchback, which comes in at a smidgen over R500 000 (and is a highly unlikely candidate for this application).
Clearly, the City managed to secure a good deal for its bulk buy. But which cars has it purchased? The turbocharged IS 200t, perhaps? The under-the-radar ES sedan? The NX crossover, maybe? For now, we can only speculate…
UPDATE: Turns out our first guess was spot on. A CAR magazine Facebook user (thanks Naeem Logday!) has posted photographs of Ghost Squad officers standing next to their new Lexus IS sedans…
