Photo: Ford
Ever since it began rolling off assembly lines the world’s first car for the masses, the Model T, police embraced the Blue Oval. Few companies have dared challenge Ford's relationship with the police over the decades.
The most recent addition to the fleet of purpose-built Ford police cars is the Interceptor Utility, a model not necessarily meant to showcase new police tech, but rather to show that catching bad guys can be done just as easily with less fuel burned in the process.
The SUV is allegedly the industry's first pursuit-rated hybrid SUV. It is expected to have an estimated EPA combined consumption rating of at least 24 mpg. According to Ford, that’s 40 percent better than the current 3.7-liter V6 used in the Interceptor and can lead to $3,200 per vehicle in yearly fuel bills savings..
Being meant for special use, the hybrid powertrain has been tweaked to comply with law enforcement’s duty cycle. It automatically switches to maximum performance, meaning the engine and battery working at peak acceleration levels, as the need arises.
“We’re committed to electrifying vehicles for all customers, including law enforcement who need the high performance and low operating costs that Ford’s next-generation hybrids will excel at providing,” said in a statement Hau Thai-Tang, the man in charge with Product Development and Purchasing.
The new Ford Police Interceptor Utility hybrid comes equipped with cameras that can monitor movement for 270-degrees around the car and motion analysis tools to determine potentially threatening behavior.
The information gathered by the sensors - moving objects, the motion trail, and threat level - is sent to a display in the instrument cluster. A chime is generated by the vehicle every time it detects an approaching threat and it automatically rolls up the windows and locks the doors.
The new generation of the Interceptor Utility would become available for law enforcement agencies in the summer of 2019.
The SUV is allegedly the industry's first pursuit-rated hybrid SUV. It is expected to have an estimated EPA combined consumption rating of at least 24 mpg. According to Ford, that’s 40 percent better than the current 3.7-liter V6 used in the Interceptor and can lead to $3,200 per vehicle in yearly fuel bills savings..
Being meant for special use, the hybrid powertrain has been tweaked to comply with law enforcement’s duty cycle. It automatically switches to maximum performance, meaning the engine and battery working at peak acceleration levels, as the need arises.
“We’re committed to electrifying vehicles for all customers, including law enforcement who need the high performance and low operating costs that Ford’s next-generation hybrids will excel at providing,” said in a statement Hau Thai-Tang, the man in charge with Product Development and Purchasing.
The new Ford Police Interceptor Utility hybrid comes equipped with cameras that can monitor movement for 270-degrees around the car and motion analysis tools to determine potentially threatening behavior.
The information gathered by the sensors - moving objects, the motion trail, and threat level - is sent to a display in the instrument cluster. A chime is generated by the vehicle every time it detects an approaching threat and it automatically rolls up the windows and locks the doors.
The new generation of the Interceptor Utility would become available for law enforcement agencies in the summer of 2019.
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