Taurus Based or a Four-Door Mustang?
Canadian Auto Press

The Crown Victoria has had its days numbered for the last decade at least, but over the years has received one major and a number of minor updates to keep it current. Now only a fleet vehicle mostly sold to taxi companies and police departments, the Crown Vic appears to be officially on its way to the great auto scrap yard in the sky thanks to an announcement this week that Ford will build a new Police Interceptor for 2011, when the Crown Victoria was set to be canceled.

“We have heard the repeated requests from the law enforcement community to continue uninterrupted support of the law enforcement community,” stated Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas in a press release. “Ford is answering the call with the new Police Interceptor – engineered and built in America.”

Ford isn’t yet saying which vehicle architecture it plans to base the new police-specific sedan on, but it clearly makes sense to modify the new Taurus for police duty as its all-wheel drive architecture would make it ideal for all-weather traction and fuel-efficient EcoBoost V6 and six-speed automatic transmission combo delivers the V8-like performance the men in blue expect.

The timing of the announcement may have been in the cards for a while or possibly the schedule was pushed up a tad being that GM only recently announced its intention of getting back into policing with the Pontiac G8-based Chevrolet Caprice cruiser. Chevy might have the advantage of the Caprice’s rear-wheel drive architecture, if Ford goes with the Taurus, rear-drive being advantageous to fleets due to reduced drivetrain complexity and resultant lower maintenance costs. This is precisely the reason the Panther-platform Crown Vic has soldiered on for so long, as well as the mountain of spare parts most fleet repair shops have on hand anytime the need arises to swap out an engine, transmission or rear end.

With Dearborn’s promise to engineer and build the upcoming Police Interceptor in the US, there should be no speculation about whether or not Ford will consider GM’s approach, and rework its Australian-built rear-drive Falcon for North American fleet duty. As good as the four-door sedan from down under reportedly is Ford appears bound to go for the Taurus or come up with something entirely new from an existing American-made architecture.

The only US-made rear-drive architecture that would make sense is the Mustang’s, and considering that Ford already showed us a four-door version of the ‘Stang at the 2007 Detroit auto show dubbed “The Interceptor”, there’s a chance something might come of it. Back in 2006, before the concept’s arrival, rumour had it that a four-door Mustang was eminent, but it’s possible a relatively inexpensive rear-drive four-door sedan could spin off of Mustang underpinnings and be sold for police and taxi duty for fleet duty and given the Falcon name for retails sales. After all, the original Mustang was based on the Falcon, so the nameplate is owed its due.

Ford promises to disclose full specifications of the new vehicle in Q1 of 2010, which should allow enough time for law enforcement organizations and police cruiser specialty equipment manufacturers to prepare for the change.

“Ford long has supported our public servants with vehicles that work as hard as they do,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service. “We intend to build on this legacy with a new generation of municipal and police vehicles that set even higher standards.”

While the number of annual police cruiser sales might not be at the level of Ford’s F-150 sales or even Fusion deliveries, the 45,000 to 60,000 Crown Vics sold each year of the police pursuit vehicle business in the US is nothing to sneeze at and certainly a large enough number that Dearborn doesn’t want to give it up to Chevy’s new Caprice, Dodge’s Charger Interceptor or even the Carbon Motors Corporation E7. Currently Ford owns about 75% of total police cruiser volume.

Therefore, Dearborn promises that the new Police Interceptor’s “durability, safety and performance will exceed the existing Crown Victoria’s law enforcement vehicle lineup,” says the associated press release.

“Ford’s commitment to the law enforcement community produced the Crown Victoria, the benchmark police vehicle,” commented Lt. Brian Moran, fleet manager, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a member of Ford’s Police Advisory Board. “This commitment has continued, and Ford has been working closely with the Police Advisory Board on developing the new Police Interceptor. I am confident that the next-generation Ford police vehicle will meet the future needs of the law enforcement community and will set the new standard.”

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