Dodge Is Installing a 12.1-inch Touchscreen on Police Cars, but What's Next?
Dodge announced for its Charger Pursuit cars Friday an available 12.1-inch Uconnect touchscreen, which is five times larger than its 5-inch model available in some of its cars.
The 12.1-inch screen — which is only available on Charger cars for police for now — is meant to eliminate mounted laptops in the front seats of many police vehicles. The screen can be connected to a laptop in the trunk via ethernet cord, and can display functions such as lights, sirens, forward-mounted cameras and radio information.
In addition to the massive Uconnect screen, Dodge sells the Charger with a V-8 and all-wheel drive only to police fleets, complete with steering column-mounted shifter.
Police fleet sales comprise a substantial part of overall sales of large sedans. Automakers don’t disclose overall costs of their police cars, however the California Highway Patrol recently paid $30,000 per Ford Taurus-based Interceptor it recently purchased, according to the LA Times.
In 2014, Dodge sold more than 10,000 of its Charger Pursuit cars according to the report.
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The fact that they chose a 12 inch screen with 1024x768 resolution means that they found a supplier with thousands of these crap displays sitting in a warehouse and got them for a steal.
FCA is trying, but they can't address the Charger's deficiencies of inability to open the front doors 90 degrees for quick exit, the lack of hip space for officers wearing loaded utility belts, and the lack of space in the back seat with the cage installed, making it difficult to put arrestees in or take them out. Well, they can, but they'd have to redesign the car with a longer wheelbase, wider track, and taller roof, until they end up with a Chrysler 300 with a high greenhouse. The police also liked the menacing old front clip that the Italian designers softened. They might have been better off using the Durango as the base car.