A mere Caprice
Not that I’m anxious to be pursued by a chase vehicle with Corvette-level power, particularly, but I think that dressing one of the late, lamented Pontiac G8′s Australian sisters as a Chevrolet, disinterring the Caprice name, and selling it to police departments is a swell idea. Quite apart from the fact that Ford’s Crown Victoria, the cop-market leader, seems to date back to when Victoria herself was young, the General needs to be in the RWD-sedan market in some way that isn’t a Cadillac. As Tam notes:
You know, the one thing Detroit, and especially GM, did better than anybody else was build big, plush, rugged, body-on-frame sedans. And instead of playing to their strengths, they pissed away whatever competitive advantage they had by playing the other guy’s game, and playing it badly. Rather than squandering all their corporate blood and treasure on a whole host of poorly-conceived, ill-built, me-too-mobiles like the Citation and Cimarron and Skylark, they should have just licensed the Corolla and Camry as badge-engineered entry-level Chevys and let Buick be Buick.
Besides, sooner or later you’ll see Caprices in civilian gear, and not necessarily retired from active duty either: how likely is it that the fleet manager at your Chevy store is going to turn down an order for the police package, hold the light bar?
There are those who prefer the upcoming Carbon police vehicle, which is an impressive-looking beast in its own right, but the big Chevy is part and parcel of American history, and making them in Oz, I submit, detracts not a whit. (Their beloved Vickie, Ford fans may or may not admit, comes from Ontario these days.) Then again, some people think I’m just about a half-whit.
fillyjonk »
8 October 2009 · 8:20 am
Crown Vics have come from Ontario for a long, long time. My dad had one…gosh, I think it was an ’82? That was built there. (I remember that only because when he brought it home and took us all out for a drive, there was a spider in the car, and I freaked out, having been told, “It’s an ‘American’ car but wasn’t built in the U.S.” I was imagining it was some kind of bizarre tropical spider with venom. Instead, it was a little Canuck spider, I guess.)
McGehee »
8 October 2009 · 8:58 am
The previous Caprice police cars I remember had a jellybean look that didn’t exactly command respect. Also, is it really advisable to have the word “caprice” associated with police activity?
Kirk »
8 October 2009 · 11:11 am
Oh, c’mon, McGehee, “arbitrary and capricious” has been the war cry of the police brutality crowd from the beginning of time. This doesn’t seem like much of anything new!
McGehee »
8 October 2009 · 2:36 pm
Kirk, are you … scapegoating?