Commodores and Falcons are being traded in for BMW 530d and Chrysler SRT Core as the new New South Wales Traffic and Highway Patrol cars.
With car manufacturing moving overseas, NSW Police looked for highway patrol vehicles that would replace the Commodore and Falcon manufactured cars that served between 20 and 30 years.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said: ‘We looked to manufacturers who have previous experience building police cars. And we selected these two vehicles from 17, which we subjected to a whole range of tests.’
Commodores and Falcons are being traded in for BMW 530d and Chrysler SRT Core as the new New South Wales Traffic and Highway Patrol cars
This included financially, on police car tracks and compared to around the world.
‘The safety of our police officers and the community they serve is our top priority, and both these vehicles demonstrated the safety levels meeting our requirements,’ Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
‘Equally as important, the platform of both vehicles supports the state of the art technology that is key to the government’s focus on reducing the incidents of road trauma across New South Wales.’
The manufacturers have served as the go-to brand for law enforcement across the United States and Europe for years, according to NSW Police.
These are not the same as the cars available to the public.
Most of the luxuries from the BMW ‘authority pack’ have been removed, according to news.com.au.
‘The safety of our police officers and the community they serve is our top priority, and both these vehicles demonstrated the safety levels meeting our requirements,’ Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
Most of the luxuries from the BMW ‘authority pack’ have been removed, according to news.com.au .
The publication also reports that the car is expected to cost half the $120,000 list price.
Bigger brakes have been added to the car.
NSW Police even asked to remove the leather seats from the BMWs but were told it would cost too much to remove.
The Chrysler retails at $65,000, but police will pay fleet prices.
General duties police will still use Toyota Camry sedans
‘We expect the costs of these vehicles over the lifetime of the cars will be on par with the current fleet costs,’ Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
The three-year-search will see the new vehicles rolled out in July 2018.
General duties police will still use Toyota Camry sedans.