California Highway Patrol just added Dodge Charger police sedans
Article Launched: 05/11/2007 01:35:09 AM PDT
http://www.mercurynews.com/drive/ci_5870095
Making inroads in cop-car market
DODGE EAGER TO GO BACK TO GLORY DAYS WITH V-6 CHARGER
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
The California Highway Patrol just added Dodge Charger police sedans to its fleet - as undercover and training vehicles, not as patrol cars.
Spokeswoman Jaime Coffee said the state's Department of General Service has authorized the CHP to buy 88 Chargers. Of these, 79 will be distributed statewide to be used as undercover vehicles, while the remaining nine will stay at the CHP Academy in Sacramento for training.
Why try the Chargers? "The Dodge Charger is a pursuit-rated vehicle," Coffee wrote in an e-mail. And, she noted, many of the Chargers the CHP will purchase have V-6 engines, which makes them cheaper than the equivalent Ford Crown Victoria Interceptor and "will provide the department with fuel-efficient vehicles where possible."
The state will pay $1.9 million, or about $21,673 per Charger.
The CHP primarily uses the Ford Interceptor. It currently has 2,042 of them as marked units and another 90 as all-white enforcement units. The CHP's fleet also includes 15 Chevy Camaros, although production on that vehicle ended in August 2002; 151 pickups (Dodge Rams and Chevy Silverados), 150 4x4 SUVs (Chevy Tahoe, Ford Expedition and Dodge Durango) and 532 BMW motorcycles, Coffee said.
Purchases are made via bids by the state Department of General Services. The cars are taken out of service after 100,000 to 125,000 miles of use. After that, the cars are inspected, have their emergency equipment removed and are sold to the public, other agencies or into private fleets.
In San Jose, the city's police officers patrol in Ford Interceptors, too, and have for quite some time.
Currently, they have 338 marked cars on the road, said Sgt. Bret Muncy, the SJPD's fleet manager. Those cars last about five years and three months, and about 100,000 to 105,000 miles. They go through plenty of tires and get oil changes every 3,000 miles.
Some cars are used 20 hours a day - by both day-shift officers who work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and "the midnight guys" who pull the 9:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. shift. Others are used 10 hours a day by swing-shift officers.
And Muncy tweaks the schedule to keep cars rotating between the 10- and 20-hour shifts so they won't wear out in two years.
He said the department also has some Chevy Tahoe SUVs for field commanders and canine units, big trucks to haul the horse units and some undercover vehicles he didn't want to identify.
"We have a few officers who would love the Dodge," he said, "but, for the most part, my opinion is they're very happy with Interceptor." While the Charger looks good, Muncy questions whether its back seat is big enough to transport suspects.
Muncy said the SJPD drives what either the California Highway Patrol or the Los Angeles Police Department drives, which is why its fleet is full of Ford Interceptors.
Much of Dodge's West Coast law-enforcement business goes through Moss Bros. Dodge in Riverside, although the recent CHP order went through Lasher Auto Sales in Sacramento. Kevin Buzzard, the Moss Bros.' fleet manager there, has placed Chargers with several agencies in Southern California as well as with San Carlos and Martinez departments in Northern California.
San Carlos just added its second Charger, which it uses as patrol cars. The city's police chief, Greg Rothaus, said the car's design and the results of tests impressed him enough to order one. "I have some officers that like them and some that like the Crown Victorias," he said.
Buzzard, who said he hopes to sell 500 to 600 Charger police cars this year, compared his approach to that taken by almond farmers. "I get them to try one or two, and hopefully they'll come back for more," he said.
Dodge spokeswoman Colleen O'Connor said the brand sold more than 3,000 Charger sedan and Magnum station-wagon police units in 2006; it's having trouble keeping up with the demand for the 2007 model, and it will boost production of the 2008 model.
"Dodge understands it has not played a major role in the police-car market in the last 20 years, and that it won't be easy to step in and change law-enforcement fleets overnight," she said. But, she added, with the car's looks, engines and technology, "Dodge will once again play a dominant role in the police-car business."
In the '60s and '70s, cars such as the Dodge Monaco, Coronet and Diplomat, as well as some Plymouth models, served many police departments. Dodge police cars were used in both TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "The Blues Brothers" movie.
Nationally, the market for law-enforcement vehicles is 60,000 to 80,000 units a year. Ford says its Interceptor controls 80percent of the law-enforcement market, outselling the Chevy Impala 4 to 1, and dwarfing the sales of the Charger. The 2008 model Interceptor will be capable of using either gasoline or E85 ethanol.
At the CHP's San Jose office, on-and off-duty (officers) and technicians admired the looks of the Charger and its stout bump bar, but questioned both the size of its back seat and the size of its trunk. The trunks of the CHP's Interceptor are much bigger, and they're filled with computer and communication equipment as well as other necessities of the job.
Although he can't do anything about the Charger's trunk being smaller than the Crown Vic's trunk, Buzzard said he tries to convince officers about the comfort of the car's cabin.
"Here's a guy riding 12 hours a day in his car. That's his office. That's his home," he said.
mkewman said:
chp has a few as well. saw one in the bay area, on in kings county on i5 and one on 101 in LA.
they all have sexy LED lights. but their spotlights look kinda lame the way they were installed around the mirrors. they have SUPER long arms. way too long for the install.
