2011 Police Interceptor

Ok, I'm ALL about the charger being the nationwide police car because they are totally BADASS looking. But let's face it, they are mechanical junk, and this is coming from a Dodge fan. I hate the idea of Chevy because those cars just look cheap and whimpy. So FORD, (not my fave), has just announced their interceptor.

There are 3 articles supporting the story so i will link all three here. The pics (as noted in article 2) are from a concept back in 2002/3.

(oh and notice the TYPO in FORDS Title Header.. They incorrectly spelled "enforcement" )

1. Policelink.com

Ford Announces New Police Interceptor For 2011

Sam Smith, Jalopnik.com
November 13, 2009

Before you ask, no, this isn’t it. But an all-new Ford Police Interceptor is on its way to replace the ol’ and busted Crown Vic, and it’s likely to be rear-wheel drive. Get in the car, perp.

Confession time: We’ve never driven a Police Interceptor. Hell, we’ve barely even been in one. (There was that one time with the live chickens and the three hundred pounds of prime rib, but for legal reasons, we’re not allowed to talk about it.) So we can’t really explain why we dig this, or why it gets us excited, or why it makes us want to get all Good Cop/Bad Cop and go hunt down some junkie fool with a dirty mouth and blood on his mind.

The skinny: The next Interceptor arrives in 2011. Ford claims it will be engineered and built in America, and that it will offer better fuel efficiency, quality, safety, and performance than the current Crown Vic. (Given that the Crown Vic was designed when Calvin Coolidge was in diapers, none of this should difficult.) Further details should arrive in the first quarter of 2010.
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Jalopnik.com

Hello, Officer: Ford Announces New Police Interceptor For 2011

Before you ask, no, this isn't it. But an all-new Interceptor is set to replace the old-and-busted Crown Vic, and it's likely to be rear-wheel drive. Get in the car, perp.

Confession time: A few us have driven a Police Interceptor. One of us even owns one. Some of us, on the other hand, have barely even sat in one. (There was that one time with the live chickens and the three hundred pounds of prime rib, but for legal reasons, we're not allowed to talk about it.) So from a personal standpoint, we can't really explain why we dig this, or why it gets us excited, or why it makes us want to get all Good Cop/Bad Cop and go hunt down some junkie fool with a dirty mouth and blood on his mind.

The skinny: The next Interceptor arrives in 2011. Ford claims it will be engineered and built in America, and that it will offer better fuel efficiency, quality, safety, and performance than the current Crown Vic. (Given that the Crown Vic was designed when Calvin Coolidge was in diapers, none of this should difficult.) Further details should arrive in the first quarter of 2010.

The speculation: For starters, the picture above is the Ford Interceptor concept first shown at the New York auto show in 2002. That car was based on the '03 Police Interceptor; it sported crush-resistant bumpers, push bars made of reinforced steel, eighteen-inch alloy wheels, and a 4.6-liter, four-valve V-8 that produced 300 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. As you might guess, it is not what Ford is unveiling next year.
What's actually on the way? Our bets are on a rear-wheel-drive ass-hauler based off the Australian-market Ford Falcon. There's a slim chance that it could be Taurus-based, but durability issues would likely preclude that from happening. Note that all of this comes on the heels of Chevrolet's Caprice announcement. Nothing like a good cop-car shoot-out, is there?
[Full press release here: Ford]

_________________________________________________________________________

3. Ford.com 

FORD ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF ALL-NEW POLICE INTERCEPTOR FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT USE NATIONWIDE

• Ford confirms development plans of an all-new Ford Police Interceptor and affirms continued commitment to the police and municipal vehicle businesses
• New Police Interceptor’s durability, safety and performance will exceed the existing Crown Victoria’s law enforcement vehicle lineup
• Ford is the market leader in the law enforcement vehicle segment, selling 45,000 of the 60,000 police vehicles sold in each year in the U.S.

Dearborn, Mich., Nov. 13, 2009 – Ford Motor Company announced today it will produce an all-new purpose-built Police Interceptor specially designed and engineered to replace the Ford Crown Victoria law enforcement vehicle lineup in 2011.

The new Ford Police Interceptor is being developed in conjunction with Ford’s Police Advisory Board, which provided input during the past 14 months on key vehicle attributes, such as safety, performance, durability, driver convenience and comfort.  The new Police Interceptor will be offered without interruption when production of the Ford Crown Victoria ends in late 2011.

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

Ford – which currently controls approximately 75 percent of the police pursuit vehicle business in the U.S. – has invested significantly in designing the purpose-built new police and municipal vehicles to meet the needs of these crucial customers.

The new Police Interceptor is designed to provide municipalities with reduced ownership costs through improved fuel efficiency, quality and the kind of durability police departments nationwide have come to expect from Ford.

“Ford’s commitment to the law enforcement community produced the Crown Victoria, the benchmark police vehicle,” said 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.”

Ford plans to reveal the new model and provide full vehicle specifications in the first quarter of 2010 – in time for law enforcement agencies, police equipment manufacturers and upfitters to develop a transition plan from the Crown Victoria to the new product.

Each year, Ford sells approximately 45,000 police vehicles, making the Blue Oval the nation’s largest provider of police and municipal vehicles.

“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.”