Chinese Cop Cruiser Round-up

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

There is a Police Equipment Show in Beijing, and it’s a meeting of the minds: Chinese cops want to get out of their Santana wagons (read gen 2 Passat Variant), and Chinese carmakers want a slice of the lucrative government pie. Our friend Tycho of ChinaCarNews (formerly known as TheTycho.com) went to the show and took his camera along. Above a uniformed Shanghai-Volkswagen Passat Lingyu, the logical successor of the ubiquitous Shanghai-Volkswagen Santana. More Chinese police after the jump …

Brilliance brought two cars which they hope to sell as Chinese cop cruisers. This is a Brilliance FSV.

And this a Brilliance BS6. This is the car I would take. It’s got my name on it.

The Suzuki Alto, a kei car of Japanese lineage, is probably better suited for parking regulation enforcement than for the hot pursuit of speeding bimmers.

Ford fields a Mondeo. In lieu of Panther love …

Dongfeng-Nissan shows an X-Terra, complete with video equipment.

More pictures of China cop cruiser hopefuls at ChinaCarNews.



Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 3 comments
  • Ubermensch Ubermensch on May 05, 2011

    I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to maintain a fleet of VW police cruisers. The motor pool must order ABS modules, coil packs, and MAF meters by the gross.

  • Jimbowski Jimbowski on May 05, 2011

    Do they get as excited about lighting setups as do some folks here?

    • Mazder3 Mazder3 on May 05, 2011

      Apparently not. The light bars look at least a decade out of date, there are no strobes/LEDs in the mirrors, and none of them have a cow catcher with a quad light setup. I should send them a Galls Catalog....

  • Grg These days, it is not only EVs that could be more affordable. All cars are becoming less affordable.When you look at the complexity of ICE cars vs EVs, you cannot help. but wonder if affordability will flip to EVs?
  • Varezhka Maybe the volume was not big enough to really matter anyways, but losing a “passenger car” for a mostly “light truck” line-up should help Subaru with their CAFE numbers too.
  • Varezhka For this category my car of choice would be the CX-50. But between the two cars listed I’d select the RAV4 over CR-V. I’ve always preferred NA over small turbos and for hybrids THS’ longer history shows in its refinement.
  • AZFelix I would suggest a variation on the 'fcuk, marry, kill' game using 'track, buy, lease' with three similar automotive selections.
  • Formula m For the gas versions I like the Honda CRV. Haven’t driven the hybrids yet.
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