Ford hopes efficiency will fuel Police Interceptor sales

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The new Interceptors, with V-6 engines, are expected to improve fuel efficiency by 20 percent to 25 percent over the V-8-equipped Crown Victoria cruisers they'll replace. The outgoing Crown Vics get 14 mpg in the city and 21 mpg on the highway.

Fuel costs are a concern for retail and fleet buyers alike with oil exceeding $100 a barrel and prices at the pump in the $3.40 to $3.90 range.

Detroit spent roughly $10 million on gasoline for its police fleet in 2010. Ford calculates that by switching to the new Ford Interceptor sedan and utility, the city could save taxpayers at least $2 million a year.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the largest sheriff's department in the country, has a fleet of 6,200 vehicles that logged more than 27 million miles in 2010. There, a 20 percent fuel economy gain would amount to savings of more than $20 million a year, with pump prices just shy of $4 per gallon.

On a smaller scale, Oakland County's Berkley has 13 Crown Victorias in its fleet patrolling 2.2 square miles. To keep them gassed up, the city traditionally spends about $2,500 a month — a figure that is slightly more with the recent hike in gas prices.

A 20 percent gain in fuel economy would save Berkley $500 per month, or $6,000 a year.

"Right now, budgets are extremely tight, and we're looking to save money wherever we can to enable us to continue to provide services to the citizens of Berkley," said David Sabuda, the city's finance director. "It's very important to us that we have fuel-efficient police cars."

Ford's corporate goal is to be a leader in fuel economy in all its vehicle segments, and the company said that applies to fleet vehicles as well.

"We set out to deliver our new portfolio of Police Interceptors to be industry-leading from durability to performance, including taking on one of the most important challenges for agencies today, fuel efficiency," said Kevin Koswick, director of Ford's North American Fleet Operations. "With Ford's new Police Interceptors, we took the industry benchmark, our Crown Victoria, and improved every element including delivering up to a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy."

The new Interceptors have fresh competition.

Chrysler Group LLC started taking orders in September for the all-new 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit — or Enforcer, as it's known in Canada (where it's already available).

The Dodge comes with Chrysler's new Pentastar V-6 engine or the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 with cylinder displacement system that saves fuel by shutting down four of the eight cylinders when they are not needed. The Charger gets 18/27 mpg in city/highway driving with a V-6 and 16/25 with the V-8.

From General Motors Co., competition comes in the form of the new Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle, which returns to the market after 15 years to augment the Chevy Impala and Tahoe police vehicles.

The Caprice, which is a fullsize car with a huge 6-liter V-8, gets 15 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. Chevy will add a V-6 for the 2012 model year.

Many municipalities and police organizations do their annual ordering in June.

http://detnews.com/article/20110326/...#ixzz1HsP7do23

This could be Ford's silver bullet but it might be that they have to stand behind
their claimed fuel savings, would they be prepared to do that and clinch the deal?