Building on Ford’s police dominance across North America, enforcement agencies get a new fighter with the Police Interceptor Utility based on the redesigned 2020 Explorer. Equipped with a standard hybrid all-wheel-drive powertrain, the latest Ford police hauler will not only help save the public but will save a good dose of budget as well; according to Ford, around $5,900 per vehicle annually in fuel costs for models powered by the 3.7L gas engine.
A hybrid SUV makes sense for the agencies when you consider how often the police are idling (and we’ll forgive them for this). According to Ford, the new powertrain “provides the potential for significant fuel savings with improved performance and no tradeoffs in safety or interior passenger or cargo space…It’s a win-win-win formula for law enforcement.”
The crime fighter joins the other Ford police vehicles:
- Police Responder Hybrid Sedan
- F-150 Police Responder
- Expedition SSV
- F-150 SSV
- Transit PTV
- SSV Plug-In Hybrid Sedan
Some Bad Guying Fighting Features
The all-new Police Interceptor Utility hits the streets sometime this year sporting a healthy dose of advanced innovations designed for officer safety, including Perimeter Alert with sensors monitoring approximately 270-degree area around the vehicle; a modem powered by Ford Telematics providing timely feedback to head office, plus all the other pre-collision features you’d expect.
Ford’s relationship with law enforcement is well-known, now spanning close to 70 years of working together. Perhaps the most famous Ford fighter is the classic Crown Victoria from the early 1980s — an intimating beast of a car propelled by a 351-cubic-inch 5.8-litre high-output V8. But today, it’s more than just mammoth power and burly V8s; it’s about power with efficiency and the latest tech in the mix — and Ford is arguably the best at this (i.e., EcoBoost engines). Hey, big engines or hybrids, we don’t care as long as they catch the bad guys.
