[Allpar News System]

The Michigan State Police will test five different versions of the Dodge Charger Enforcer in their annual comparisons this year, according to Police magazine. New for 2014 will be the long-awaited all-wheel-drive version, which will counter Ford’s suddenly popular all wheel drive squad cars and CUVs. Ford has been selling its all wheel drive Explorers to the police at bargain prices, along with its Taurus-based cars. General Motors sells two sets of police cars, the front wheel drive Impala and rear wheel drive, Australian-built Caprice. The Caprice is mechanically similar to the Holden Commodore-derived Pontiac G8, and has, as we predicted, spawned a civilian version, the Chevrolet SS. The Charger police cars are sold only with five-speed automatics, though civilian Chargers with V6 engines are only sold with eight-speeds. The police can, however, choose between 2.65:1 and 3.07:1 axle ratios with either engine in rear wheel drive; the all wheel..

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[Bearhawke]

This should be interesting about the upcoming Charger tests.

What does make me wonder is why Ford's new F/AWD police package vehicles are so popular since they have no real world time on the streets yet. The 2001 Chevy Impala squad took a few years before it earned enough trust from both cops and fleet managers to really take off in sales and it's still around today.

 

[TWX]

Inertia probably. Service departments already have long-established supply paths for parts and purchasing departments don't have to do much to make orders over what they already had done before. There could even be sole-source agreements in place that give a particular dealership the right to first offer the product for sale. Usually there are escape clauses that let the buying organization cancel the agreement and re-bid if there's a significant change, but sometimes they don't bother even when they could or should.

Then there's always the worry of corruption, and if there's a long standing arrangement between a buyer and a seller, the buyer may not want to stop getting the benefits received.

 

[valiant67]

I think a big reason is price:
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2013/07/dodge-ford-fight-for-state-police-cars
Ford is being very aggressive.

 

[AHBGuru]

The name of the car is Dodge Charger Pursuit. I believe it's called the Enforcer in Canada.

Charger has held the #1 Police Sedan spot since 2011, when it took over from the Crown Vic. The Taurus averages about 2500 fewer units sold per year.

 

[Joe O.]

I had to drive Ford's in law enforcement since the early nineties and always wished I was driving something else, oh well...

 

[AHBGuru]

Chrysler is still trying to overcome the stigma created by the maintenance issues of the LX cars through 2010. But there's so much more that comes into play these days than how it was years ago, when most everything was low-bid, and the Fury and Diplomat got the nod until the K frame issue bit back.

All of the squads have their quirks of course, even the Crown Vic - the body on frame so many loved didnt help in rear end collisions, when they crumpled up and caught on fire, Cooking Various Police Individuals.

The Taurus/Exploder squads are notorious for poor handling at the limit, poor visibility, and no room in the Taurus.

The Caprice is very expensive, with no correlating advantage in performance. Impala is FWD. Tahoe is very expensive and too heavy for high speed pursuits.

The Charger has a smallish trunk, the V6 is a little pokey in a fully equipped squad, but all of the issues the LX cars had through 2010 have been fixed.
One interesting development is that the 2015 Charger Pursuit is the only big Dodge or Chrysler available with the Hemi and AWD.