US Police stock up on Ford Crown Victoria, shun Chevrolet Caprice

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By Tim Beissmann | August 25th, 2011

Police departments in the US are snubbing the Australian-made Chevrolet Caprice and other new law enforcement vehicles in favour of the prehistoric Ford Crown Victoria.

Between January and July 2011, sales of the Crown Victoria were up 64 per cent compared with the same period in 2010 as police forces stocked up on the ageing but widely respected cop car.

A total of 35,203 have been sold to law enforcement agencies so far this year, ensuring the Crown Vic will be among the most popular police vehicles for 2011. US law enforcement agencies generally purchase between 65,000 and 70,000 new vehicles each year.

The Crown Victoria was introduced as a police vehicle in 1983 and has been the top-selling model among departments for the past 15 years.

The Crown Vic and its sister car, the Lincoln Town Car, are built on Ford’s Panther platform – the basic elements of which can be traced back 32 years to 1979. Production of the Crown Victoria and Town Car will cease before the end of this year.

Ford is replacing it with the new Ford Taurus Police Interceptor and the Ford Explorer Police Interceptor, which promise to take a massive leap forward in terms of efficiency, power, handling, safety and durability.

But a number of police departments are sceptical of the new offerings, and as a result are loading up on the last Crown Victorias to roll off the line.

North Charleston, South Carolina police chief, John Zumalt, told the Detroit Free Press he did not understand why Ford would end production of the Crown Vic.

“The Crown Vic is the best vehicle for line police officers in the United States,” Mr Zumalt said.

“The Taurus isn’t going to work for us. It’s too small. We’re looking at the Caprice from Chevrolet and the Dodge Charger”

The North Charleston police department ordered 40 new Crown Victoria vehicles earlier this year.

In June, CarAdvice reported the first 23 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicles were delivered to police departments, marking a modest start to the export program.

Unfortunately, Holden will not comment on order volume or the number of vehicles currently on boats from Elizabeth to the US, although a Holden spokesperson said they expected the numbers to gradually increase over time.

http://Nissan Kazuo

thats alright, at least law enforcement in australia are buying holdens.
Ford Fairlane

Good on them for supporting there local industries.

Unlike some people who live in Oz and call themselfs Aussies.

delux

They’re only doing it because the Crown Vic is a tough as nails known quantity. The Taxi and Livery drivers are also stocking up, and they have plenty of other local cars to choose from.

Nick Dalziel

The Crown Vic taxis are being replace by those ugly looking Mexican built Nissan vans. Taxi drivers have very good reason to keep buying the Crown Vic.

fosrs

This is not about supporting local industries, and even if it were, it would be driven by narrowmindedness. This just discourages R&D (which, itself, has the potential to create many jobs) and is likely to cause the local industries to become complacent and fall further behind. If they wanted to support local industries, than they could buy the Taurus or the Charger.

Ford Fairlane

The way the US economey is,I would bet that local industry support is high on the list even if they say its not.

Andrew of Melbourne

I would hate to see such a great Australian brand being rammed by offenders over in the USA in police duty. For me its not just whether we hate or love holdens it’s more to do with if they want their Crown Victoria let them have it. At least we won’t have to see on television our cars being shot at, rolled over etc by someone who takes on the law.

delux

Since when has Chevy been a great Australian brand?

Harry

since the road became filled with tossers who think that just because their car has a chev v8 the whole car should be rebadged. it isn’t just the bow tie anymore, now they are putting on the rest of the livery – holden should source another engine like they did back with the RB30, just to screw with these guys

http://www.ozmazdaclub.com Tien – OzMazdaClub.com

Sadly it doesn’t just end on the Commodore v8s they stick it on the v6s and on the Cruze as well :/

toxic_horse

its not even a Chevy engine. Its a GM engine that Chevy also use a version of. I can’t stand those badges on a holden.

The original injected 5 litre holden engine. is a much more fun anyway.
Grady

We have a cruze rental at the moment and I’m getting so frustrated with the gearbox!

PoisonEagle

I don’t blame them. CV has simpler mechanicals, body on frame and look at the size of those bumpers. Ford have really dropped the ball by not keeping it going.
Roadtard

So they’ve stated the Taurus is too small and they’re looking at the Caprice and Charger. Holden would be happy about that. Surely the Caprice has it all over the Charger – except it’s not assembled in the USofA.

Aaron Koehne

the Charger is also NOT assembled in the USA

Leigh

The caprice is hardly an Australian car it’s made mostly of amrican parts owned by obama

Freddo

Like the engine…whew, thats most of the car isnt it!

Thrillhouse

The engine’s made in Mexico.

Ford Fairlane

Does that mean a chinese cheif cooking a meal in china with Aussie produce,make it an Aussie meal

NO

What about cars like camry that are made in more than one country,there still a japanese car.

If GM stated to build the Commodore in the states,It would still be an Australian car.

http://Zuboora.com Mohamad is right when he says

I see your point. No1 considers the camry as an Aussie car.. Even tho it is built here. We I’ve never looked at it that way myself

boganator

Really disapointed for Holden and the great job they done with the Caprise.Like Ford Fairlane, good on them for supporting local industry.
Only 2 countrys have signed free trade agreements that destroy there local manufacturing.The USA and Australia.
http://Zuboora.com Mohamad is right when he says

The whole caprice deal was written up before the Aussie dollar was strong? Interesting to see if the strong Aussie dollar effects the deal now

nickdl

Well it’s supposedly too expensive already so Holden’s profit margin will be absolutely tiny.

Arky

Classic fear of change thing. Also, new car means re-training and new parts supplies and stuff and that means money in the short term, at what is not a good time for budgets.

GM won’t be worried. They will have expected most police forces in the US to stick with the old model as long as they could. Once the Crown Vic is no longer available, that’s when they’ll expect to see the police Caprice sales to take off.

Shak

Exactly, im pretty sure GM knew this would happen, but they wanted to get into the market sooner than later so that when the time comes, the Police Forces of the USA will see that the Caprice has served those departments who bought them well. GM could also be testing the Caprice out to see if a business case can be made for a re-commencement of exports of Holden Zeta products to the USA for civilian consumption. Things such as sourcing parts, dealership selection etc etc.

AB

I’d be interested to hear what aspects of the Taurus according to John Zamult are too small????
I drove a Crown Vic for 4 weeks.

The interior of the Crown Vic was quite cramped, especially in the rear although it was fun to cruise in

Tom

Agreed, I’ve been in plenty of Crown Vic cabs, they are tiny in the back for such a huge car.
Mark

yeap totally agree, massive on the outside, cramped on the inside! the anti tardis !
Aaron Koehne

mainly the front seats where that wide-ass center console is, and there’s little legroom in the rear (especially once the prisoner partition is in place)…according to the Ford Police Interceptor website, the Taurus has 102.9 cu. ft. of interior space vs. 107.5 for the Crown Vic, 104.7 for the Charger, and 112 for the Caprice….I’ve sat in a civilian version of the Taurus at a Ford dealership, and I’ve done 4 police ride-alongs, all in the Crown Vic…in comparison, the Taurus is less roomy than the Crown Vic, plus the dashboard in the Taurus is a bit hard to see over because of how it’s designed compared to the Crown Vic

o

This isn’t the the kind of market where they will sell thousands straight away, it will take a while to build a reputation. All the reviews by the cops sound promising though.
nickdl

The thing that the American police love so much about the Crown Vic is that it’s tough and cheap to fix. The body on frame chassis may not be agile but if there’s any damage to the ‘fenders’ – such as when they do a PIT manouvre – then it’s an easy repair. They’ve been known to go on for much longer than the supposed turnover at 100,000 miles of police work.

While the Caprice has better performance, the American cops are right in being sceptical in its uptake. It’s still unproven how durable they will be and repairs might be harder, especially if it’s an import. Don’t forget the level of patriotism that would exist in so many police forces either.
Andrew M

Well Im not really surprised.

Perhaps the new offerings have over complicated things a bit??

I say give them what they want, if Ford were smart they would keep the crown Vic going.

Also, Surely the Crown Vic would be cheaper than the Caprice…

I also dont get why Holden hides figures, I bet they are coy about the amount of dollars tied up in vehicles and a program they arent selling

Phil

I don’t know why they’d stop production is they’re still getting sales, but at some point that ageing design is surely going to fail new emmision/safety regulations.

Tark

Phil is right on. The CVPI is going away because it’s based on a 32 year old platform that will not be able to meet new safety requirements in a couple of years. Obviously Ford wouldn’t have a problem selling the CVPI since they paid off their investment in it 10 or 12 years ago.
That being said, the new PI bests the CVPI in every aspect. Acceleration, handling, safety, comfort, you name it. Why people think a car that is 20 years old will be better than a new car designed with modern technology is beyond me.

Aaron Koehne

because the Crown Vic is a more simple design than the Taurus…that’s why….the AWD system in the Taurus is more likely to make it a costly repair and maintenance nightmare than the RWD system in the Crown Vic…the Crown Vic should’ve had a platform update with a stretched version of the Mustang’s platform, but that isn’t goin’ to happen…not for the moment at least…

Oosh

This is nothing more than conservative customer base, with entrenched systems geared to towards working with a particular vehicle, trying to forestall change for as long as possible.

Any key product sees a sales rush when it goes end-of-life unless the new one is backwards compatible.
DIEE

these cars made in australian are horrible, we american know that.

stuzz

Bet you drive an explorer, i mean exploder….. ahh, U.S build quality.
Billy Bob

Yeehaw, those awzies don’t know it yet, but soon the only GM they’ve been assembling is the fruity mobile Cruze.

Jerrycan

I thought the Crown Victoria is assembled in Canada?
Kev

Some of them are assembled in Ontario, Canada. I live in Canada but its the same deal for us to…very disappointed to see the crown vic go. Its such an iconic symbol of police authority. I have a feeling Ford will end up regretting their decision to replace the Crown Vic with the Taurus when its all said and done. Lets hope they do, and start up the Crown Vics again! I know, it would never happen.

Aaron Koehne

there’s no way that the Taurus will ever be a long-term police vehicle like the Crown Vic was…I believe the Crown Vic will make a return before this decade is over

A

My assumption is a similar thing will occur with the Falcon if and when it goes out of production. Taxi fleets will probably stock up. Though, I have been seeing quite a few different makes of taxi around Brisbane. Remains to be seen I guess.
Kev

What is the North American equivalent too the Ford Falcon? Is it the Fusion?

Sasha

Na, Ford reckon it’s the Taurus Kev. Except that it’s a V6, has FWD and no V8 option. Only other car in Falcon’s class is Crown Victoria in the States otherwise
Sasha Jaafari

The Taurus is Ford of North America´s Falcon, according to Ford anyway. Except it´s FWD, doesn´t have a ute or estate version and doesn´t have a straight 6 or V8 option either

Miguel

The Crown Vic, Charger and Impala are not even built in US they are Made in Canada well the Caprice will be Made in Australia even though the CV was tossed around plants since the 1980′s if they decide to make CV again tossed back to the US at the Flatrock Assembly Plant where they make the Mustang.
Shak

Ford dont seem to know how their Large Car program should work anymore…On one hand they are getting rid of one of the most iconic Symbols of American power in the form of the CV, and on the other they are trying to kill off our Falcon, arguably one of the best large RWD cars in its class. Ford listen up, you need a Large RWD somewhere so do the smart thing and migrate all your RWD projects onto the one platform and make them everywhere. If the gemrnas can sell their cars, and Chrysler can sell their whole RWD catalogue profitably then why cant you?
Wayne Kerr

Why dont they just use hummers…. They have to be good for somthing…

Aaron Koehne

hummers are mammoth guzzlers that have no such business doin’ patrol work…they’re better suited as rescue vehicles

Wayne Kerr

Get ‘em cheap from china?
Armforward

Here we go again. The USA cramming Democracy down the worlds throat, and yet they do not want fair and open competition. How is a tiny country like Australia who is sending cars over to the USA going to cost jobs? I walk the streets of Australia and see fantastic cars like Jeep, Hummer and the American built BMW’s and more. That sounds like we are supporting the workers of the US. In a democracy should the USA not support Australia? And yet our unions do not demand that we stop the imports. Why? Because we let the people decide. The Chevy Caprice is clearly the better car and you are getting it for half the price we pay for it. Come on America you are bigger than this!
Billbison

The Caprice is not a better car. Go and look at the Ford USA site and search for police car. You will see why. The Caprice is just a dog, like the holden is here.