BMW and Chrysler will replace Holden and Ford patrol cars for NSW police

Have you ever had that sinking feeling you were being followed by a member of law enforcement, only to look in your rear mirror and breathe a sigh of relief when you notice that you’re actually being trailed by a BMW instead? Well, don’t relax just yet, because NSW police are set to replace their old Ford and Holden patrol cars with comparatively fancier BMWs and Chryslers rather soon.

As The Daily Mail reports, the shutdown of local manufacturing plants means that the current stockpile of Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore vehicles is set to be exhausted quite soon, with a new replacement needed.

As Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy has revealed, the NSW police force are set to receive turbo-diesel BMWs and V8-powered Chrysler sedans as their new highway patrol cars from next month.

“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,” Corboy explained. “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.”

“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 types of vehicles that are set to replace the previous cars are not the same as those available to the public, and have been used by police forces around the word, with the BMW 5-Series turbo-diesel used by European and UK law enforcement members, and the Chrysler SRT8 featuring the same hardware used by American officers.

The price of these new vehicles has also attracted some attention, with the fact that the new Chryslers cost about $65,000 – $15,000 more than the previous vehicles – though it’s been noted that police will pay fleet prices for these new vehicles.

Likewise, the BMW ‘authority pack’ has had most of the luxurious features removed, and fitted with larger brakes, yet will still cost close to half the listed price of $120,000. Also notable is the fact that the NSW police force actually asked for the leather seats from the BMWs, but were told it would be financially infeasible to justify such a decision, making it one of the few times that it’s actually cheaper to travel in luxury compared to the alternative.

So if you’re travelling down the road from next month onwards, just a heads-up that the NSW police force are now in possession of some far fancier cars than you might be used to.