Just by looking the livery colour, clearly these aren't the actual cars joining PDRM's existing fleet, which includes the aging Proton Waja, Nissan X-Trail and Proton Perdana V6, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, and more recently the standard Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 GT. Malaysia, like most commonwealth countries adopt the white background with blue-yellow stripes for their police cars. The concept cars shown in the pictures are in black.
PDRM's latest fleet - Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0GT
And other models in their existing fleet.
Plus, our sources at UMW Toyota and Naza-Kia have no knowledge of any deal with the PDRM involving the Camry, Forte or Sportage. At least not to their knowledge. If you look closely at the first picture with the Camry, clearly the wheels are not stock and neither is this design available overseas. Assuming that these photos were taken recently, within 2010, then Camry model shown here is no longer sold locally because it is the pre-facelift version. The push bars installed are not common on this side of the world. Push-bar bumpers are mainly used in the US, where the police force known to be very aggressive in their hot pursuits and often invoke the pit maneuver to push cars off the road. Police forces in the Middle East are another market that fit their pursuit vehicles with push-bar bumpers, but that's because most of their police cars are GM left-hand drive models that share similar specs to their US domestic market equivalents. Police forces elsewhere adopt a more sensible approach - to call in a chopper, seal off the roads, use multiple vehicles to "box-in" the suspect, and if necessary to even call-off the pursuit. Rarely will the pursuit commander allow the situation to escalate into a multi-car convoy chase like what you commonly see in the US. It's a lot less dramatic than the pit maneuver but it works for them. Most of the time the pursuit vehicle's primary objective is to keep up with the suspect to relay information to the control center while maintaining a reasonable distance. This is to avoid pressuring the suspect to take any more risk, a situation pursuit specialists call "red mist" that might endanger other innocent civilians.
The Camry is obviously not designed to accommodate the push bar and Toyota Motor Co. would certainly not approve of such modifications as it will compromise the function of the vehicle's crumple zones and airbag accelerometer / G-sensors.
Look closer and you will notice a sticker SGT Power. A quick Google tells us that SGT Power is a security / defence equipment supplier. So we have found the missing link between the cars and PDRM. We have to say the concept by SGT Power is certainly very impressive looking. Kudos to the folks at SGT Power for coming up with the concepts. The focus should not be on the car, as SGT Power obviously don't sell cars. But rather, the cars serve as a platform to demonstrate the new equipments. We love the LED flashers used by the latest Lancer 2.0GT patrol cars as the higher visibility is much safer to the old conventional beacons on the older cars.
Back to the cars. Though the Camry may not join our local force, the Camry however is used as police cars in Australia (Aurion) and Thailand.
Royal Thai Police's Camry
Toyota Aurion V6 police car of the Aussie state of Queensland.
However only a tiny number of Aurions serve the Australian police. The Aurion is not the favourite choice for Aussie police because it apparently failed a stringent repeated high speed braking test. However Toyota later sold a number of Aurions that had upgraded brakes from the now defunct TRD Aurion programme. The Aurions were not used as "urgent response" cars, these are served by the turbocharged Ford Falcon and V8 Holden Commodore as well as the Monaro coupe. Most Aussie police cars are the usual big-brute Aussie sedans, either a Holden Commodores (above) or Ford Falcons (below).
But before our PDRM boys get their hands on more new cars, we hope that they first learn how to drive properly. There's no need to elaborate further on the road discipline of our local boys in blue. They switch lanes as they wish without signaling, stops vehicles for various minor offences at ridiculously dangerous locations, etc etc. Back in 2009, PDRM received delivery of 25 units of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Recently, we were told that out of the 25, only 13 or less units are in active duty now. The rest have been crashed beyond repair, with one of them totaled at the Sungai Besi corner heading towards Jalan Istana almost right after delivery. Below is a pic taken of another crashed PDRM's Unit Helang, at an unidentified location. No further info was available.
But it is not just PDRM's pursuit officers that hit the news for the wrong reasons. The Italian police operates two units of Lamborghini Gallardo police car. One of them ended up as shown below. According to news reports, the Gallardo swerved to avoid another car that suddenly accelerated out of a gas station, causing the Gallardo to crash into two stationary cars. One of the officer had a broken rib while another was treated for minor injuries. High powered toys and poor discipline are a bad mix.
The Lamborghinis were however not purchased with tax payer's money but was donated by Lamborghini S.p.A. So neither the Italian parliament or the public were too interested to enquire further. Wonder what would an audit of our PDRM's Lancer Evolutions reveal. The Italian police Lambos were however not used for any real criminal busting activity. The Lambo is used more as a PR tool, part of the police force's effort to engage with the community. It is also used as a medical transporter, for urgent organ transplant, in situations where for arranging for a helicopter is more difficult.
Frequently circulated photos of the police liveried Lamborghini Gallardo give an unreal impression of Italian police force vehicles. As mentioned, the Lamborghini is not used for any serious law enforcement duties. A bulk of Italian police fleets are made up of Alfa Romeo sedans and Fiat hachbacks.
Fiat Punto
Alfa Romeo 159
Similarly, the TechArt Porsche 911 and Brabus CLS photos are not actual German police cars but are just show concepts.
Regular German police cars are made up of pretty boring Opel sedans and estates. Even the Mercedes E-class police car models are diesel powered bare specs models, similar to the ones used by German taxi operators, minus their fleet specific equipments.
German police vehicle colours differ from state to state.
Mercedes E-class, note the basic steel wheels
BMW police fleet for the state of Bavaria
Opel Insignia estate
The South Korean police force also have some interesting models in their fleet - a Ferrari F360, Porsche 911 Turbo and Lamborghini Gallardo. But as these are rather old models, could it be that these are converted seized cars? Other than these 3 supercars, their regular police cars are made up of Hyundai sedans, mostly Sonatas.
Aside from Malaysia, UK also operates a fleet of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution pursuit vehicles. However the British force's favourite pursuit vehicle is still the Volvo V70 T5 wagon. The Lancer Evo has a notoriously low service interval (less than 5,000km) and its high strung engine is not as economical nor as flexible as the Volvo for regular patrol duties.
BMW 5-series is also another popular choice for the British police, especially in estate form. Red coloured cars are from the Diplomatic Protection Group, which usually patrols the foreign embassies area.
An interesting note - UK police force in the Humberside county in Northern England actually operates a fleet of Proton Personas. The Persona is sold in the UK as a bi-fuel petrol-LPG only model called Gen-2 Ecologic.
Over in Japan, the most common police car is a Toyota Crown. Although a small number of high performance models including the Nissan Skyline GT-R and Mazda RX-8 also serve the Japanese force. Kei cars like Daihatsu Mira and Suzuki Wagon-R also chip in for regular patrol duties.
Toyota Crown - the default Japanese police car
Mazda RX-8
Nissan Skyline GT-R . The protrusions on the hood is a clear perspex surface that is supposed to protect the windscreen from debris.
Daihatsu Mira
In China, the aging VW Santana is the default police car in most cities.
However there are also other models like the VW Polo, Mercedes sedans and BMW sedans.
Audi Q7, Hebei
Mercedes C-class and E-class, Beijing
VW Polo, Beijing
BMW 5-series, Shanghai.
Hummer H2, for the Chinese SWAT team. The Hummers were purchased in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
American police cars.
The most popular American police car is the Ford Police Interceptor, basically a Ford Crown Victoria with police specs. It is also known as the P71.
Don't underestimate this boring looking sedan. It is powered by a 4.6-litre V8 producing 235bhp, with a top speed limited to 130mph (210 km/h). It's body on frame construction makes it a favourite amongst major American police forces, including NYPD and LAPD. The ladder frame construction allows for easy repairs to the body without affecting its chassis. The RWD layout also makes servicing easy.
Other models in the American force includes the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Impala.
Dodge Charger
Chevy Impala
The best police car, in our opinion is the Carbon Motors E7. Simply because it is a purpose built police car rather than a converted passenger car.
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