A Black Maserati with Government plates spotted in Perth

[happy1]

On Friday I spotted a Black Maserati with Government plates driving out of Perth and onto the Freeway South.
It is understandable that the ministers and their official visitors need safe transport, but to me it looks a bit like waste of tax payers money when the Government has fancy vehicles. It also sends the wrong signal regarding (not) supporting Australian manufacturing.

Anyway, the car I spotted on Friday seems to be an approx year 2012 manufacture, so it looks like it was bougth at the top of the boom time in WA.
I guess a Holden Statesman could have been had for 1/3rd of the price.

Cheers

[aussiblue]

That would have got headline's somewhere day one so I am extremely sceptical. Are you sure it wasn't diplomatic plates (Italian)? Or a car supplied by Barbagallo to some celebrity etc? Western Australian government plates are the same pattern as standard issue, however the colours are inverted but you can get personalised plates with this same colours.

[Road_Warrior]

Sounds like Consular Corps/ diplomat's car

[happy1]

I was in the back seat of a taxi that morning, and it was the taxi driver that pointed out to me that we were driving behind this Maserati with WA Government plates, so I got to have a good look at it. On each side of the licence plate it had some official Plaques, a blue one and a white one. As far as I'm aware it wasn't a private vehicle, and to me it looked like it had the WA Swan & Kangaroo logoes on these plaques exactly like I have seen on the White Holden Statesman vehicles in Perth before. I didn't write down the licence plates or pull out a camera, but I still believe what I saw was a WA Government vehicle.
OK I guess there is a 1% chance I am wrong and it could have been a Consular / diplomat's car.
Cheers,

[aussiblue]

You should never believe WA taxi drivers; especially about things like this; most are recent immigrants and still trying to find there way around Perth .

The Swan and Kangaroo Logos go on Euro Plates. These are slimline plates designed to fit the standard European plate size of cars made to the EEC standard including most low volume imports from Europe like Maserati. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...s_of_Australia As I said WA Gov cars just have normal plates with reversed colours.

WA Euro Plate:


WA Government Plates:


current version at top.

The white Holden Statesman you see belong to a private taxi or small charter vehicle company and have the special plates; again these are not Government cars. see http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/taxis...e-licences.asp The earlier versions of this plate (from my Observation of the Statesmen pulling up outside the CBD hotel Plate numbers SCV - 1 to SCV 99 I think) had the logos and companies have carried them across to newer cars. The only Government car with a special logo is the Governors - Black Swan under a Crown.

[aussiblue]

... or perhaps the company with the low SCV number decided to stick some logos on to fill up the blank spaces on each side of the low numbers.

[xxx000]

There's a Perth taxi driver on here, Phildo, who may be able to provide info on this spotting and its origins.

[Harrison]

That would be the Minister for Gina Rinehart I imagine.

[happy1]

Originally Posted by Harrison

That would be the Minister for Gina Rinehart I imagine.

could be, Anyway there was only a driver in the vehicle at the time (black suit and black driver hat) so no VIPs in it when I saw it.

Blue, thanks for pointing out the different plate types. I've been in WA for over 10 years so I'm quite familiar with the regular plates and custom plates, also the Euro and SCV plates. It wasn't any of them. It wasn't only the state symbols on the plates, it was also the state logos on the plaques at each side externally from the license plate.

The special plaques on each side of the plate were about 10x10 cm each, and physically mounted outside each side of the licence plate.

Silly that I didn't try to remember the number or secure a photo of it. Cheers

[aussiblue]

I've been in WA for over 10 years so I'm quite familiar with the regular plates and custom plates, also the Euro and SCV pla

I've been here all my life and also worked in numerous State Government Department's over 40 years until I retired 18 months ago. Most Government cars are not actually owned by the State but are leased from companies like FleetWest and AllWest. Nonetheless, outside the Governor's limo to my knowledge there was never a Maserati or other exotic cars on the fleet. The current fleet policy here https://www.finance.wa.gov.au/cms/Go...uidelines.aspx also prohibits V8s - so no Maseraties allowed. Admittedly there are a large number groups exempt from these policies - see Page 28. The publicity given to Troy Buswell 's driving incident and the many pictures of his State Fleet Caprice also shows that Minister cars and plates are nothing extra special. And you will see from this report (last pages) http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3910037a5ef7c63fd478e22748257b4f0027e6c3/$file/37.pdf. even Supreme Court judges, who have one of the most generous car provisions, are not allowed V8s and turbo cars over 3 litres etc.

While I am retired, I still unfortunately often get to see Government CEO's cars; they turn up at the funerals of my ex colleagues who worked in their Departments. No Maseraties or similar so far. Nonetheless, anything is possible so if you are convinced it was a WA State car why not email the fleet policy officer at the Department of Finance with the question. Generally there is no secret about general fleet management issues so, while for reasons of security in this terrorist conscious age, they may not be prepared to talk about an individual car, they should be able to advise if a Maserati on the fleet and what special plates with coats of arms, if any, are used.

[aussiblue]

Are you sure it wasn't a Maserati look-a-like? Perhaps some CEO has a Tesla S? Might be appropriate for the CEO of Synergy or an environment related agency.

[aussiblue]

If you are really convinced it was a WA Government plates Maserati send you story to the West's Inside Cover; I am sure they will get to the bottom of it.

[aussiblue]

Also see http://www.ausplates.info/WA/WA_plates.htm#Govt

[aussiblue]

One of these ?



Commonwealth plate - Used on official government convoy cars during visit of foreign dignitaries.

[happy1]

Yes Blue,
I would say it was this Commonwealth plate. Thanks for solving the mystery.
From time to time there are some official visitors / world leaders coming to WA also. Not often, but it has happend.
Anyway I'm not going any further with this, not going to contact anyone to ask.

By the way I wasn't mistaking it for a Tesla ;)
It wasn't a brand new one, as mentioned it was the Maserati body shape that ended in 2012.

Thanks for replies on this pub chat
Cheers

[aussiblue]

I wonder who the VIP was. Only one in town I know about was the Dahli Lama and I think he would shun such a car. In any event, I doubt it was Government owned even if Government plated; more likely on loan from Barbagello who often provides cars for visiting dignitaries albeit usually only Italian VIPs.