Ford strike back with police cars

[HSVKILLA]

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/13/auto...ptor/index.htm

[Franco Cozzo]

$10 on it not being the Falcon.

[Windsor220]

Good news. The only problem is GM has the government on its side.

[InfernoSR]

Come on Ford US... use the Aussie built car too...

[Sprint XR8]

BREAKING: Ford announces it will build all-new Police Interceptor for 2011

In a surprise move, Ford has announced that it will pursue the development of an all-new Police Interceptor model. The move comes on the heels of General Motors' announcement that it plans to challenge the Crown Victoria's law enforcement dominance with its own heavy-duty Chevrolet Caprice sedan.

Details are slim, but Ford says the forthcoming PI will arrive in 2011 and it will sport durability, safety, and performance parameters that are superior to that of the Jurassic Panther-platform Crown Vic. Given the relatively tight timeframe and durability targets, we have to assume that the replacement cop car could be based on the rear-drive Australian-market Ford Falcon shown above. The Blue Oval promises that the car will be engineered and built in America, so it could also be an Ecoboost version of the Ford Taurus (as seen in the SHO), but front-drive cars have had trouble meeting the durability and cost requirements of police duty in the past, making this something of an open question. In an official release posted after the jump, Ford says it will disclose full vehicle specs in the first quarter of 2010, which should give enough time for both law enforcement and police vehicle equipment manufacturers to prepare for the changeover.

Ford says it presently shifts about 45,000 of the 60,000 police cars sold in the States each year, so it makes sense that Dearborn would not be willing to cede this market to Chevy's Caprice and the already established Dodge Charger.

[Source: Ford]


PRESS RELEASE:

FORD ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF ALL-NEW POLICE INTERCEPTOR FOR LAW ENFORCMENT USE NATIONWIDE

* Ford confirms development plans of an all-new Ford Police Interceptor and affirms continued commitment to the police and municipal vehicle businesses
* New Police Interceptor's durability, safety and performance will exceed the existing Crown Victoria's law enforcement vehicle lineup
* Ford is the market leader in the law enforcement vehicle segment, selling 45,000 of the 60,000 police vehicles sold in each year in the U.S.

Dearborn, Mich., Nov. 13, 2009 – Ford Motor Company announced today it will produce an all-new purpose-built Police Interceptor specially designed and engineered to replace the Ford Crown Victoria law enforcement vehicle lineup in 2011.

The new Ford Police Interceptor is being developed in conjunction with Ford's Police Advisory Board, which provided input during the past 14 months on key vehicle attributes, such as safety, performance, durability, driver convenience and comfort. The new Police Interceptor will be offered without interruption when production of the Ford Crown Victoria ends in late 2011.

"We have heard the repeated requests from the law enforcement community to continue uninterrupted support of the law enforcement community," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas. "Ford is answering the call with the new Police Interceptor – engineered and built in America."
Ford – which currently controls approximately 75 percent of the police pursuit vehicle business in the U.S. – has invested significantly in designing the purpose-built new police and municipal vehicles to meet the needs of these crucial customers.

The new Police Interceptor is designed to provide municipalities with reduced ownership costs through improved fuel efficiency, quality and the kind of durability police departments nationwide have come to expect from Ford.

"Ford's commitment to the law enforcement community produced the Crown Victoria, the benchmark police vehicle," said Lt. Brian Moran, fleet manager, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and a member of Ford's Police Advisory Board. "This commitment has continued, and Ford has been working closely with the Police Advisory Board on developing the new Police Interceptor. I am confident that the next-generation Ford police vehicle will meet the future needs of the law enforcement community and will set the new standard."

Ford plans to reveal the new model and provide full vehicle specifications in the first quarter of 2010 – in time for law enforcement agencies, police equipment manufacturers and upfitters to develop a transition plan from the Crown Victoria to the new product.

Each year, Ford sells approximately 45,000 police vehicles, making the Blue Oval the nation's largest provider of police and municipal vehicles.

"Ford long has supported our public servants with vehicles that work as hard as they do," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service. "We intend to build on this legacy with a new generation of municipal and police vehicles that set even higher standards."

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/13/b...ce-intercepto/

[zetec]

It will be tragic if they don't use the Falcon.

[DanielXR8]

The Falcon would make sense. It is the natural competitor to the Commodore and has been dieing a slow death in sales in recent years too.

My first thought was that since the Falcon has already had some of the engineering needed for conversion for export (Ford then killed that) and the Ecoboost was in test mule Falcons, before they scrapped the engine change in Australia too.

What about if Ford Australia built knock down kits of the parts needed and unique to Falcon, while the rest of the components like the engines were US sourced and assembly was then done in a US Ford plant? The Falcon is also getting Hurricane V8 derived engines next year, which would be easy enough to source locally for Ford, without a lot of extra engineering. Assemblying the car in the US would help encourage sales too, from local Police departments as it has more US input then the Commodore derived cars would.

Personally I would have to say if they could keep the Aussie turbo six in them, the Police there would be much happier with the cars, although the new V8's are still an unknown quantity at this point.

Will be interesting to see if Ford go with the Falcon. It's been waiting for an export opportunity back to it's homeland for thirty odd years. This is probably Falcons best chance of survival beyond the FG derived series cars.

[Road_Warrior]

"Engineered and built in America" kind of un-invites the Falcon to this party. Unless Broady has been doing project work for a LHD Falcon derivative that the seppos can build themselves.

[R-Design]

There was a bit of discussion about this in the following thread:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...=falcon+police

One vote here for Falcon underpinning GRWD, I think it's the best chance it has for survival long term (even if it means a variant being built in the US).

[bathurst77]

HOw can anyone here hope that the US police choosea n american designed and built ford over a locally designed and built GM-H? I know its all about forc v holden and tribalism, but we talking about jobs for aussie families and export dollars if they use the statesman based car.

So unless its actually based on the falcon and built here go holden and good ont ehm for spotting aniche market, and designing thecommy to meet US design regs, that was a big SNAFU by ford.

[phillyc]

Wonder if the Falcon might be used as the basis for a LWB Fairlane/Crown Vic. They could use the new US built 5.0L V8 too.

The FG was LHD engineering protected, meaning that although it wasn't designed specifically for it, it was designed so that no 'hard/fixed' points would stop the design becoming LHD.

Might this be the beginning of the FG becoming the base for the GRWD platform?

The Mustang needs a new platform by 2013, and they are talking about IRS by 2011. So why not use the fantastic platform that Ford Australia has made in the FG?

Mullaly is not one to let 'not developed here' get in the way of advancig his plans to make one Ford. He also knows how much money it would save them going this way. I'd estimate making a platform as good as the FG from scratch would cost $2B. I'd also estimate that for less than half that, they could make the new LHD Fairlane, Mustang, Falcon & Ute.

Kuzak also talked about when the economy was better and Ford was making money, GRWD would be looked at again. Here is the chance!

Perhaps, i'm totally wrong and it will be an AWD Fusion. But, then again, Ford has been giving lots of positive suprises lately.

PS My inclusion of ute, is because they have said the new T6 Ranger developed by Ford Aus, won't be used stateside. They wanted something smaller.

[Peter B - CV8]

I've just returned from a 4 week holiday in the US. The general vibe that I picked whilst over there, is that they do anything possible to avoid supporting an overseas manufacturer - and will prop up their own (sometimes inferior) product to keep the local industry active.
I would be amazed if they decide to import Falcons - despite the good reputation of the vehicle here in our domestic market.

[Road_Warrior]

My bet is on a LWB car derived from the current Taurus or a Falcon that is shipped to the US as nothing more than raw stamped panels and front/rear chassis/suspension modules.

[Deco28]

My bet is on it being a stretched version of the Ford Taurus SHO.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

The Falcon is also getting Hurricane V8 derived engines next year, which would be easy enough to source locally for Ford, without a lot of extra engineering.

The Hurricane V8 was the early development BOSS 6.2, which we wont be getting.

[Fairlane]

I rekcon its either based on the Taraus AWD, or theyve dusted off the old DEW98 platform- think Thunderbird, Jag S Type, and are making a Mustang based 4 door.

Either option being of course entirely stupid, given the Aussie Falcon.

[snappy]

Falcon is to small , They did not like the commodore because it was to small hense why the are sending the caprice . So like it or lump it falcon is out

[eb2fairmont]

I agree. It wont be Falcon and the timetables too tight for it to be a FG "fairlane" type vehicle.

It will be a Taurus derivative with awd.

[WASP]

Originally Posted by eb2fairmont

It will be a Taurus derivative with awd.

I think so to. While we all still have visions of the 'trout-like' Taurus of the late nineties, the new Taurus is quite a different package with reasonable looks and offering strong performance and economy in Ecoboost twin turbo V6 AWD set up. Rather than us wondering if the US will ever use our Falcon, I think the Falcon, better or not is more at risk of being replaced by the much larger volume selling Taurus in the future.

[Chilliman]

How about a heavily updated Crown Vic that incorporates some Falcon technology e.g. Vitual pivot point front suspension, and for a 'rough & tough' purpose-built police cruiser: the wagon/ute's cart sprung rear suspension set-up (tuned by FPV)?

The Cops over in the states love the Crown Vic for its durability and low running expenses - an updated Crown Vic would be a shoe in if addressed some of the current models shortfalls in regards to power, handling and fuel economy.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Chilliman

How about a heavily updated Crown Vic that incorporates some Falcon technology e.g. Vitual pivot point front suspension, and for a 'rough & tough' purpose-built police cruiser: the wagon/ute's cart sprung rear suspension set-up (tuned by FPV)?

The Cops over in the states love the Crown Vic for its durability and low running expenses - an updated Crown Vic would be a shoe in if addressed some of the current models shortfalls in regards to power, handling and fuel economy.

Curtain airbags have been mandated from 2011 onwards in the US and the CV has no way of incorporating them in its old body structure. That means a major $$$ investment to redesign the passenger cell, doors, pillars etc so you may as well just start from a clean sheet or adapt a new-ish platform to suit than try and make the old girl comply with new stuff.

[747jet]

Originally Posted by snappy84

Falcon is to small , They did not like the commodore because it was to small hense why the are sending the caprice . So like it or lump it falcon is out

that is 100% right there falcon is to small for the US market so i dont think so that the next US cop cars will be coming for australia.i think ford need to look at bring back the long wheel base models.then thay may have a chance for the US cop cars.

[XR Martin]

A LWB Taurus SHO would be near 2.5T once all the cop equipment is added on, so i cant really see that being plausable.

[FalconXV]

What if it's a strengthened version of Panther, complete with Falcon spec IRS and Virtual Pivot, Coyote 6.2 and heavy duty transmission? Plausible? Since Ford Aus is getting plenty of interntaional projects, it's only reasonable to expect they cold get involved with this in some way....
Taurus wouldn't be popular, Chevy got some FWD Impalas out there, but CV is the quintessential cop car. With all the good decisions Ford are making, maybe they'll maintain the same formula.
Also bear in mind the Taurus might have AWD grip( geared towards understeer) but wouldn't be nearly nimble enough for duties, does the article allude to an existing model?

[mik]

hard to fathom the falcon or commy being "too small".

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by mike

hard to fathom the falcon or commy being "too small".

They double up as paddy wagons etc..
Have carry all their gear...
They still have separate pursuit cars like Mustangs etc..

[prydey]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

They still have separate pursuit cars like Mustangs etc..

reminded me of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y03K1QkuFYM

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

HOw can anyone here hope that the US police choosea n american designed and built ford over a locally designed and built GM-H? I know its all about forc v holden and tribalism, but we talking about jobs for aussie families and export dollars if they use the statesman based car.

So unless its actually based on the falcon and built here go holden and good ont ehm for spotting aniche market, and designing thecommy to meet US design regs, that was a big SNAFU by ford.

While GM owes money to the US government the agreements states that no part of that money is allowed out of the states to another country, so unless the deal is done with holden direct for the Caprice then Australia makes nothing out of it anyway.

[R-Design]

Looks like the voices of reason are correct, Falcon has no chance. It's a pity as it would have been a better vehicle for the application. I wonder if Ford would reverse their decision when they lose 45,000 sales to GM?

Originally Posted by By BRENT SNAVELY FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

On Friday, Ford confirmed that it is phasing out its Crown Victoria police car and plans to replace it in 2011.

But the new car has big shoes to fill. The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, introduced in the early 1980s, continues to command about 75% of the police car market even though it was the target of numerous lawsuits earlier in the decade for gas-tank explosions during rear-end collisions.

Police departments have been clamoring for years for better police car choices, said Travis Yates, a captain with the Tulsa Police Department and a national driving consultant. Yates said he is excited about Ford's announcement as well as other new cars on the way.

"Ford is going to remain a powerhouse," Yates said, but the company "needed to step it up, because honestly, the technology is old."

By the time Ford's new police car reaches the market, it will face stronger competition from rivals including Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co. and new player Connersville, Ind.-based Carbon Motors Corp., who all plan to either increase their market share or launch new police cars.

"We are at 70-plus percent, and we intend to stay there," Ken Czubay, vice president of marketing and sales for Ford, said Friday. "We understand the police business, we've been doing it for decades and ... I think we demonstrated integrity and service to these branches of government and we're going to continue."

Through August, Ford has sold 28,458 Crown Victoria's, a 33% decline compared with last year, according to Autodata Corp. About 90% of Crown Victoria's sales are to police departments and for other government and municipal uses, Ford sales analyst George Pipas said.

Ford confirmed Friday that its new car would be developed from Ford's current full-size platform, which also is the basis for the 2010 Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS full-size sedans. The platform comes in two drive versions: front-wheel and all-wheel drive.

Ford has been developing the car for the past 14 months with input from its own Police Advisory Board.

The Crown Victoria's popularity with police departments is due in part to its rigid, full-frame construction and because it is a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Ford declined to say Friday whether its new car will be rear-wheel drive.

"We are very confident that the vehicle will provide the safety, performance, and the durability that is ... demanded in the marketplace," said Kevin Koswick, Ford's director of fleet sales.

Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham said Chrysler's goal is to expand its police car market share from 17% to 40% market share in the next 12 to 18 months with its rear-wheel drive Dodge Charger Police Car.

"Based on results of third-party testing and the activities going on in the marketplace, we feel there is a good opportunity to grow our sales," Graham said in an e-mail to the Free Press.

In October, GM announced plans to introduce the Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle in 2011. According to GM, the Caprice is a modern, full-size, rear-drive sedan that will offer both V8 and V6 engines.

"It really outperforms the highest volume car in the segment now, the Crown Victoria," said GM spokesman Brian Goebel.

Carbon Motors, meanwhile, plans to begin producing a vehicle called the E7 in 2012 that is specifically designed for police departments.

Carbon Motors Chairman and CEO William Santana Li said the company already has orders for 12,000 units from more than 200 law enforcement agencies across the nation.

"We've got a healthy demand for a product designed by cops for cops," Li said.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...te=fullarticle

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by prydey

reminded me of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y03K1QkuFYM

The new Mustangs have an open vent in the bonnet...
I was pulled over last week 85 in 75 mph..
Driving back to Los Vegas..
He cracked up when I said "GOODAY OFFICER" !!!
He said good to see your wearing your seat belts...