(Rare pearls from Belgium)

A Belgian driver was shocked to learn recently that his compact economy car had a summit speed of over 400 mph.

The Opel Astra is sold in the United States as the Chevy Cruze, and neither is capable of going 400 mph.

The Opel Astra is sold in the United States as the Chevy Cruze, and neither is capable of going 400 mph. (Opel)

That was co-ordinate to a speed camera citation mailed to him that said his Opel Astra, (which is sold in the Us as the Chevy Cruze), was clocked doing 654 kilometers per hour in a 50 kph zone.

The ticket came with a fine for half dozen,579 euros (approx. $7,800), but he didn't have to pay it. According to DriveTribe, he brought the matter to the constabulary and they admitted the malfunction and let him off the hook.

Unfortunately for him, the police somehow adamant that he was actually driving at lx kph and wrote him a new ticket for 10 kph over the limit, which costs effectually 50 euros.

For the record, even the fastest Astras sold in Kingdom of belgium have a peak speed of 150 mph or so, while the world's fastest production automobile is the $2 meg Koenegsegg Agera RS that hitting 278 mph on a Nevada highway last year.

(A closed Nevada highway, that is.)

Gary Gastelu is Fox News Digital's automotive editor.