2012 Carbon E7 Extra Insight

The 2012 Carbon E7 suspension is a conventional design with heavy-duty coil springs, front struts, multilink rear geometry with self-leveling shock absorbers, and an antiroll bar at each end. Brakes are vented 4-wheel discs with ABS measuring 14 inches across in front and 13 inches in back. Tires are 245/50R18s wrapped on 8-inch-wide steel wheels. Interestingly, Carbon claims front/rear weight distribution at a BMW-like 50/50, which should complement the chassis hardware to deliver demon handling despite the burly curb weight.

Only one 2012 Carbon E7 has been built so far, a "proof-of-concept" prototype that's being used to drum up interest among law-enforcement agencies, potential investors and, of course, governmental bodies. Motor Trend says the design will be optimized in the months leading up to production, which CEO Li expects will kick off in 2012. Meantime, MT says, the E7 will "likely compete in official police-vehicle assessments conducted by the Michigan State Police." It will be interesting to see what the Big-Three opponents might be, if any.

For now, the 2012 Carbon E7 seems a promising and passionate answer to a question nobody thought to ask before. We'll continue to follow this story, so keep checking back for late developments.

A Notable Feature of the 2012 Carbon E7

As we hope the above makes clear, the 2012 Carbon E7 is obviously packed with notable features, and there are others we haven't mentioned yet. For example, as part of its plan to reduce lifetime unit costs by up to 40 percent compared with conventional police cars, Carbon Motors plans to take back used E7s for recycling, either by retrofitting and refurbishing for resale or by dismantling for reusable parts. Carbon claims the E7 is 95 percent recyclable by content, which is possibly the best such figure in the industry. It's also consistent with the company's goal of doing business with minimal environmental damage. Carbon has yet to spell out how the repurchase scheme will work, but that's one of the issues we'll be following.

One more thing: Though the deepening global recession makes this a lousy time for new automaking ventures, Carbon is confident that it will be profitable on "mid-volume" production of 10,000-80,000 E7s per year. As noted above, the car was designed to minimize manufacturing costs, as well as to optimize build quality. After all, the last thing harried law-enforcement agencies want are overpriced, poorly built cruisers that waste taxpayer dollars.