Queensland Police deploy Kia Stinger highway patrol cars

THERE’S a new highway patrol car to watch out for in your rear view mirror.

THERE’S a new kind of Stinger to watch out for in Queensland.

Another police department has rolled out its replacement for locally-made Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon highway patrol cars as they head for the car park in the sky — and it’s called a Kia Stinger.

It’s powered by a twin turbo V6 and has the performance to match the Commodore V8s and high-performance Falcons that have patrolled our roads for decades.

The first batch of 50 Kia Stinger sedans will be rolled out across Queensland from this week.

Eventually, however, the entire fleet of approximately 200 highway patrol cars in Queensland are expected to switch to Stingers.

Queensland Police will replace Commodore and Falcon pursuit cars with the Kia Stinger. Picture: Supplied.

NSW has announced a mixed fleet of BMW and Chrysler sedans; Victoria so far has only confirmed BMW pursuit cars.

Other states and territories are still evaluating highway patrol car replacements but Kia is understood to have been actively pursuing the police fleet business — snatching it from under the noses of Holden and Ford who dominated the law enforcement market for decades.

As with BMW and Chrysler, Kia is understood to have made the necessary modifications to its vehicle to make it suitable for police work.

Queensland Police Minister, Mark Ryan, said: “You often hear Police Ministers talking about providing the best equipment for those at the coal face. In this case I truly believe we have been able to do that.”

Assistant Commissioner (Road Policing Command) Mike Keating said the evaluation process had been extensive.

“The Stinger performed very well in all areas and we had nothing but top reports from all the field officers,” said Mr Keating. “The result is a road policing first for us, the first foreign car to perform these duties.”

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart sits inside the new Kia Stinger highway patrol car as Assistant Commissioner (Road Policing Command) Mike Keating looks on. Picture: Supplied.

Kia Motors Australia chief operating officer, Damien Meredith, said the policing role for the Stinger was “a watershed moment” for the brand.

“This level of public exposure and endorsement from a high profile government utility is something which wouldn’t have been on the radar just a few years ago,” said Mr Meredith said.

Meanwhile general duties police across Australia will likely continue to use Toyota Camry sedans, and Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento SUVs.

Holden and Ford, which had the lion’s share of police business across Australia for close to half a century, have all but been stripped of their stripes.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling