America's Best Selling Police Car Is Now A Crossover
When Ford killed off the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, the police car market was left wide open. But the Blue Oval appears to have managed to brought a suitable replacement to market, though it’s not the traditional three-box police sedan.
Many departments found the Dodge Charger too cramped and the Chevrolet Caprice a tough sell to those in charge of purchasing (due to not being built in America). Ford’s Taurus Interceptor was tested by TTAC, and it too, was found to be too small for most police officers wearing a utility belt and holster.
According to USA Today, the Explorer-based Utility Interceptor appears to be the most popular Ford police car, and the best-selling police vehicle in America. Last year, Ford sold roughly 14,000 UIs while moving just under 11,000 of the Taurus based Interceptors, for an overall police vehicle market share of about 50 percent.
The UI’s larger interior and ability to hold more gear appears to be a big draw for many departments, and is the natural extension of the trend towards the adoption of the Chevrolet Tahoe (which will finally get an all-wheel drive Pursuit Rated version to compete with the AWD UI). Officers apparently like being higher up and enjoy the space that the two-box bodystyle affords. The balance hasn’t completly tipped in favor of the UI, and many departments are still happy with sedans. But the shift towards SUVs and CUVs in place of large sedans could be a harbinger for the broader auto market.
More by Derek Kreindler
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I don't think the big issue is the cost of the car, but who's buying them. We have two small towns near us, both with about 900 people, and both are speed traps. Town one is in financial trouble. They insist on newer vehicles. They have two police cars- both 2012 Chargers that replaced 2007 CVPI's. The other town has two cars- a 2002 Dodge Intrepid and a 2004 CVPI. They do just as fine of a job as the Town 1, but are not hurting financially. Both of these cars were purchased used by the town. A fast, powerful car like a Charger is necessary on our Intersates. In these two towns, the highest speeding ticket I've noticed was about 75MPH. My $700 LeSabre will do that speed. I would noever recommend a police force buy something like that, but a $30,000 new cruiser is equally crazy. Leave the nice, new cars to WYDOT, and purchase them surplus. Run them for a few years, and repeat. It's worked very well for Town #2.
I can see why cops think that there isn't enough room in a traditional cop car. It's because Officer Dunkin needs to go on a diet.
That's kind of a cheap shot. There may be a few donut addicts on patrol but most cops I see are in good shape. To paraphrase Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard," it's the equipment that's gotten bigger.
So Ford is chest thumping about LOSING 30% of the police vehicle market. What a pathetic company. And the fuel mileage of these awful vehicles is no better--in the real world--than the Crown Vic. Ford massively failed with these two mediocre appliances.