Why Ford Dominates The Market For Police Vehicles

There are about 12,000 police departments patrolling jurisdictions across the United States. More than half of police vehicles driving through neighborhoods and cities are Fords. The second-largest U.S. automaker in terms of sales is also the biggest purveyor of police vehicles. In 2018, Ford's share of police vehicle sales in the U.S. was 63 percent thanks to its immensely successful Police Interceptor lineup.

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Why Ford Dominates The Market For Police Vehicles

[INICK]

Nothing is more annoying than being followed by a blacked out explorer thinking your gonna get pulled over and it’s not a cop 👮‍♀️

[miguelz]

Cops be getting a car every month while usps still has a ww2 tinfoil truck 💀

[stoole]

Had an assigned Crown Victoria for 4 years before I retired. It ran 24/7 used on all three shifts for 250K miles. They retired it when I retired and I bought it at auction. Kept it for another 150K.

[WigWoo]

At night I fear all Ford Explorers. Never know when it's a cop. I recognize their headlights so well I can tell if it's a cop behind me just from the lights alone

[mohawk]

So Ford’s new Taurus was so small, police departments bought Explorers instead. But since SUVs handle poorly, they added additional sway bars and special suspension. Since fuel efficiency is also poor on SUVs, they added hybrid electric tech. Basically, Ford didn’t give police a sedan that was big enough, so now they instead buy SUVs with thousands of dollars of upgrades to make them more like sedans. 🤔

[economicsinaction]

This summer police cars get destroyed in USA
Ford: *smiles in new sales*

[tearl]

Ford took the lead years ago by designing their police vehicles specifically for police duty with beefier suspensions, electrical systems, engines, ect. Most other manufactures just slapped a police sticker on a stock vehicle. First one I ever drove was a LTD police interceptor with a 460, ran like a scalded dog.

[slypperyfox]

I worked as an EMT back in college (mid '70s) and the EMS I was with was run by the county via a building in town. It had a two vehicle garage and the county had just purchased two new "truck based" ambulances. One GMC and one Ford. The GMC was the cab and bed frame of their 1500 model and the Ford was the cab and bed frame of the F150 and the ambulance box sitting on the bed frames was identical and made by Southern Ambulance Company in LaGrange, Ga.

All that to say that all of us who drove the vehicles preferred the GMC over the Ford. The Ford had a stiff suspension but the GMC was softer and perhaps more responsive. And is this Kurt Russell narrating this video? Sounds like a KR narrated Quentin Tarantino movie!

[eginteractive]

Honestly, the greatest police car of all time was EASILY the Crown Vic. It's the only former police car I'd ever consider buying. It is by far the easiest car I've ever worked on. Everything was spacious and easy to change parts on, it was very modular.

[jacobgoldenofficial]

Nothing more scary than a Crown Victoria Police interceptor following you at night in the 90s

[R]

The Crown Vic (CVPI, P71) is one of the best cars ever made. Body on frame construction. *Extremely crashworthy.* Able to withstand seemingly endless abuse. I’ve noticed this with the Impalas as well, but the Crown Vic’s body-on-frame construction is, by virtue of its design, a tougher vehicle. It also means that whole sections of the car can be replaced.

Super reliable engine. Easy to repair and with simple upgrades you could add some serious horsepower. Also, rear wheel drive! I drove a cab (before switching to Uber) and the cab company had several old CVPIs and I would try and drive them whenever possible, because even as you drive through the city at night, the size of the Crown Victoria just *seems* safer. That, and extra room, everywhere. Back seat? Huge. Trunk? Bigger than all the interior space of many cars.

In the city I live in, the police department still have a *lot* of them in operation. Many are now in the “slicktop” configuration. I’ve spoken to a couple local cops who are hanging onto their Crown Vics as long as possible. Many detective and unmarked vehicles are still Crown Vics and the older style Chevrolet Impala 9C1 and 9C3. The newer Impalas are popular too.

Seems like most guys don’t like the Taurus, which is why the Explorer quickly replaced it. Former police cars (Crown Victorias and Impalas) are very popular with regular civilian drivers around here.

They’re driven hard, but they’re maintained, nobody calls them “Police Interceptor” [even though that’s a badass name for a car].

At least around here, it is, and always will be “Crown Vic”, said with a feeling of affection.


My first car was a 1995 Ford Contour GL with the 2.0 liter EcoTec 4-cylinder and MTX-75 5-speed manual transmission. The Contour was considered one of the worst cars Ford made. My dad bought it new in 1995 and drove it for a decade. He then sold it to me for $1 when I was 16 and had just gotten my driver’s license. I drove it for another decade [and 110, 000 miles]. At 197, 000 miles the odometer stopped working. I went to the junk yard, pulled an instrument panel off another Contour, *added* mileage to that odometer, put me at around 197, 500 and then just kept driving. The car just would not die. Only major work done on it was water pump replacement and suspension replacement.

That car just kept running. My dad drove it hard and I drove it harder. It went 200, 000 miles and 20 years on the original factory clutch, transmission and everything else (except suspension). Finally one of the cylinders lost compression….so it still ran, but ran rough. Lots of blow-by and oil consumption after that point. I sold the car to a local junkyard for $450 and they pretty much immediately swapped the engine out, turned around and sold the car. As far as I know, it’s still on the road today.

[scott]

As an engineer that has worked on police vehicles, Ford simply has put more effort into consistently building police vehicles over the last 30 years. For a while they were the only game in town with the Crown Vic. That bought some loyalty, but also they have put more resources towards it. Police cars are not cash cows. They are small margin vehicles. They are sold in bulk at low prices and require a lot of development and special equipment. Often carmakers will see them as more of a headache than they are worth. Then start making them again when they get desperate for sales. Yet Ford has been fairly consistent in providing interceptors vs. GM and Chrysler. The latter two have been better the last 15 years or so, but Ford definitely has been more dedicated overall. The Explorer also is fairly right sized and right priced vs. the competition.

[kigas]

$2400 in 1899 is roughly $75000 in 2019 dollars, for anyone wondering.

[OZD-mbbs]

Crown Vic was one of the best built, toughest cars ever. Some still on the road today.

[FantomWireBrian]

I hear mixed things about Ford's new fleet, but I still here about how the Crown Vic is missed . A friend and an officer in MN was tee boned in one of the new Ford's and the side air bag didn't deploy . Her husband is a Chevy guy and is a detective and drives a Chevy SUV type. He didn't want her back on the road unless it was Crown Vic. Unfortunately she didn't return to the road due to a concussion. I really think Ford should come back with a redesigned CV with a full frame . I've heard many surviving serious crashes, my daughter was one in a Marquis. She went off a highway and hit a telephone pole with four friends in the car. Everyone was fine and guess what was the first car on the scene ❓😎

[michelinman]

15:15 As a resident of Oakland County, Michigan I laughed quite hard at what CNBC had to say about the Tahoe PPV. Oakland County Sheriff's Department _still_ runs Impala PPVs that date back to 2012. Think about that: we're talking decade-old police cars in a time where most municipalities have since decommissioned these types of vehicles! Albeit those Impalas are kept in good shape (except the 3 I've seen on the backs of county tow trucks).

[jakubwasilewski]

Usually 2 to 3 years in service??? Yeah right, tell that to the Crown Vic that's still going on since the 2011 discontinuation.

[vanguard]

CNBC: cop cars with 2-3 years service
Crown vic: am I a joke to you

[robison]

I ended up getting a 2021 Ford Explorer Limited and my god is it a nice ride. Tons of room and and beast in the snow. Looks sharp as hell too.

[colinsmith]

Im a retired police officer. I served from 1976 to 2003. I started with the chevy nova. But the crown vic is by far the best police car ever made. I was in 155 hi speed pursuits in my 25 yr career. The crown vic never letme down. But the new ford explorer is the cats meow. For pure putsuit give me a hemi Dodge. I was in 6 shootouts also. The 10mm is the most effective gun. Next the 45 then the 40. I was stuck with a 9mm but it too served me pretty good.