From the AFR:
Police forces have joined forces to find a single foreign manufacturer of patrol vehicles who is ready to supply all the special Australian features currently supplied by Ford and Holden.
The closure of Australia’s motor vehicle industry by the end of 2017 will not be noticed by many motorists but police forces have depended for decades on Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores that have been heavily modified to meet specific Australian requirements. And these could be hard to match in overseas vehicles.
For instance, sustained pressure in Europe to reduce the weight of cars have seen some luxury cars changing to smaller, lighter temporary spare tyres. The Australian police want a “full size spare that can be accommodated with minimal impact on cargo space”.
The nine state and territory police forces have developed a single, national police car specification which can be manufactured in bulk to encourage a foreign manufacturer to make cars to meet Australian standards.
I look forward to the near future when our men in blue are driving considerably more expensive, less impressive, foreign-made pursuit cars supporting employment and profits elsewhere.
I imagine we’ll be looking at American muscle.
