Khadafy marks 40 years in power with a 'rocket'

ROME: How do you celebrate a coup that gave you 40 years in power? For Moammar Khadafy, the answer is simple: Order a rocket car.

An Italian engineering company said yesterday that the Libyan leader wanted an ultra-safe car as sleek as a rocket to celebrate the anniversary of the 1969 coup that brought him to power - so that's what they made for him.

The "Rocket" - as the prototype has been dubbed - is described as an "elegant sedan" 5.5 meters long, more than 1.8 meters wide, with a 3-liter, V-6 gasoline engine.

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In an added bonus, it can go hundreds of kilometers on a flat tire - a feature could come in handy while driving in the vast Libyan desert. Other safety features include a device to cut off the fuel supply to avoid a fire in case of accident.

Domenico Morali, CEO of Tesco TS SpA, an automotive design company based in Turin, Italy, said Khadafy joined in discussions about the car's styling and asked for an original car using Libyan materials including marble, leather and fabric.

The car was unveiled earlier this week in Tripoli at the end of an African Union summit.

"The first thing (Khadafy wanted) was safety in how you drive," Morali said in a telephone interview. "The second was developing the automotive sector in Libya." It was unclear, however, what automotive sector the Libyan leader envisioned for his arid, oil-and-gas rich country.

Khadafy already owns one rocket car, which he bought 10 years ago when he marked 30 years in power. At the time, Libya boasted the vehicle was the safest in the world.

AP