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2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility Teased Before Chicago Auto Show Unveiling

A recent release from the Ford Motor Company features the photo above and the following two lines: “New Ford Police Interceptor to be shown at the Chicago Auto Show” and “Built in Chicago, the Police Interceptor Utility gets even better with more high-tech features. See it at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 12.” Despite the apparent mystery, it’s obvious what Interceptor we’re dealing with on this occasion.
2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility 1 photo
Photo: Ford
That’s the 2016 Ford Explorer adapted for police duties, blue and red lights and light bars, sirens, so on and so forth. As you can see in the teaser offered by FoMoCo, the C-shaped fog lights are unique to the refreshed Explorer, shown at the 2014 LA Auto Show.

Speaking of them C-shaped fog lights, it’s fairly obvious they’re inspired by the headlights that adorn the front fascia of the aluminum alloy-bodied 2015 Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck.

Slated to land Stateside in the summer of 2015, we have a little bit more to wait until the all-new Police Interceptor Utility will also be adopted by the men and women that vowed to protect and serve. In the meantime, we need to talk about what kind of oomph will aid the police-grade Explorer in fighting crooks.

As it was the case with the former model year, the refreshed SUV will most certainly boast with all-wheel drive and a 3.5 EcoBoost V6 with 365 HP and 350 lb-ft (474 Nm), mated to a 6-speed auto.

On the civilian-grade 2016 Ford Explorer, the $52,600 Platinum is too lavish to be adapted for police duties. That leaves the $43,300 Explorer Sport variation, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, sport tuned AWD and sport suspension included, as the candidate for the all-new Police Interceptor Utility.

With these being said, we sure do look forward for the Chicago Auto Show to open its doors on February 12th, to learn more about the 2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility and the goodies it's packing.

Editor's note: with the 2016 model year on the horizon, we have a sneakin' suspicion the outgoing Explorer will benefit from major dealer discounts throughout the entire US of A. If you're in the market for a bargain, be sure to check our review of the 2014 Ford Explorer to find out about its good points and its bad points.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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