The days of the Ford Crown Victoria are long over. Police forces around the U.S. and Canada are choosing to fill their vehicle fleets with SUVs about as often, or in some cases more often, than sedans because of the amount of gear they can carry, reports Automotive News.
Sedans are the more popular option in cities, but SUVs are becoming the new norm in suburbs and rural areas. And the reason is similar to the reason everyday consumers are opting for these larger vehicles. They can carry more equipment, and they are often easier to enter and exit due to their higher ride height.
Helping bolster the case for SUVs, the performance of these vehicles is now on par with their lighter sedan counterparts, police say.
“LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) are buying a larger percentage of SUVs than they are of the sedans,” said Sergeant Michael McCarthy of the Michigan State Police precision-driving team, speaking with Automotive News. “They are very capable. They have a fairly short turning radius. They’re deceptively fast.”
Ford sells by far more SUVs than sedans to police forces in the U.S., Automotive News reports. The automaker offers the Explorer-based police SUV as well as the Taurus-based police sedan, and both models sit on essentially the same platform and share key components.
It’s hard to pinpoint exact sales figures for police fleets because many departments, including New York, don’t license and register their vehicles. But estimates suggest there around 100,000 police vehicles sold each year in the U.S.
Head to Automotive News to read the full report.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)
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