4 ms·

Ford basically makes all of their money on the F-series pickups, and the Escape/Explorer/Expedition SUV series. One thing I've never quite understood is how Fo

Ford basically makes all of their money on the F-series pickups, and the Escape/Explorer/Expedition SUV series. One thing I've never quite understood is how Ford has managed to maintain a stranglehold on the police department market for my entire lifetime. Crown Victorias were ubiquitous until just a few years ago, and now seem to be universally replaced with Explorers. Outside of a few state highway patrol units that use Mustangs or Dodge Chargers.

u801e 9y ago
In the '80s and early '90s, a lot of police departments were using the Chevrolet Caprice as their main vehicle.
- userbinator 9y ago
  That's another big sedan with a powerful engine and good reliability and parts availability, the latter three points being very desirable to police.
jstarfish 9y ago
It's not just Ford, the Chevy Impala and Dodge Intrepid were also popular PD picks. Whether they use cars vs SUV is an interesting division. Some departments in rural areas only have SUVs (since they have a lot of unpaved roads), while some departments in suburban areas issue SUVs to captains only. It varies by state, city and department, but the one thing they all have in common is that they only buy domestic.
cat199 9y ago
> Crown Victorias were ubiquitous until just a few years ago these were also in one form or another the standard for any sort of livery - taxis were very often Crown Victorias, sedan-style limos used lincon continentals which were basically the same car only the luxury version.. not an expert, but personally I think this is basically a lineage of domestically produced V8 sedans going back to the dawn of automotive times; the large installed base and relatively decent reliability / price / passenger size meant they had a good balance of functionality and lots of of parts, trained mechanics, etc. around. they were also the standard issue car of retired americans :B probably plus union influence. IIRC the last plant making the basic chassis (winsor ontario) for these was restructured out of existence as a result of the gov't intervention following the 2008 crisis.
- taxicabjesus 9y ago
  > taxis were very often Crown Victorias, Retired Crown Victorias were commonly used as taxis because they were inexpensive when purchased at auctions. When I first started driving for the taxi company (2012), they still had a few Crown Vics with police-style lights on the A-pillar [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_(car) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_(car) The Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. Easier for old people to get into, hatchback, etc.
  - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
    People used to travel with more luggage than a Prius can easily hold. The airlines nickel and dimed that into the past.
  - Gibbon1 9y ago
    > Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. . Prius has one of the lowest operating costs of any car out there. Not just because of the good gas mileage but also the service and maintenance costs are really low.
    - taborj 9y ago
      Until you need to replace the batteries
      - Gibbon1 9y ago
        Battery is warrantied for 10 years, 150,000 miles.
ericcumbee 9y ago
Dodge seemed to have the bulk of LE business with the Charger after ford quit building the Crown Vic from about 2008ish until the last few years. Most of the Police Departments around here went with the Charger, but now almost all of them seem to be moving to the Explorer. One of the reasons that was cited at a city council meeting was that the Explorer had a lower TCO, especially when it came to maintenance packages, and repair costs. I'm not sure if that is the general trend everywhere or just here. Because living in a smaller city 30k in the city, 70k total in a fairly large land area county. A SUV seems like it might be more versatile in a more rural setting.

u801e 9y ago

In the '80s and early '90s, a lot of police departments were using the Chevrolet Caprice as their main vehicle.

userbinator 9y ago
That's another big sedan with a powerful engine and good reliability and parts availability, the latter three points being very desirable to police.

jstarfish 9y ago

It's not just Ford, the Chevy Impala and Dodge Intrepid were also popular PD picks. Whether they use cars vs SUV is an interesting division. Some departments in rural areas only have SUVs (since they have a lot of unpaved roads), while some departments in suburban areas issue SUVs to captains only. It varies by state, city and department, but the one thing they all have in common is that they only buy domestic.

cat199 9y ago

> Crown Victorias were ubiquitous until just a few years ago these were also in one form or another the standard for any sort of livery - taxis were very often Crown Victorias, sedan-style limos used lincon continentals which were basically the same car only the luxury version.. not an expert, but personally I think this is basically a lineage of domestically produced V8 sedans going back to the dawn of automotive times; the large installed base and relatively decent reliability / price / passenger size meant they had a good balance of functionality and lots of of parts, trained mechanics, etc. around. they were also the standard issue car of retired americans :B probably plus union influence. IIRC the last plant making the basic chassis (winsor ontario) for these was restructured out of existence as a result of the gov't intervention following the 2008 crisis.

taxicabjesus 9y ago
> taxis were very often Crown Victorias, Retired Crown Victorias were commonly used as taxis because they were inexpensive when purchased at auctions. When I first started driving for the taxi company (2012), they still had a few Crown Vics with police-style lights on the A-pillar [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_(car) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_(car) The Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. Easier for old people to get into, hatchback, etc.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  People used to travel with more luggage than a Prius can easily hold. The airlines nickel and dimed that into the past.
- Gibbon1 9y ago
  > Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. . Prius has one of the lowest operating costs of any car out there. Not just because of the good gas mileage but also the service and maintenance costs are really low.
  - taborj 9y ago
    Until you need to replace the batteries
    - Gibbon1 9y ago
      Battery is warrantied for 10 years, 150,000 miles.

ericcumbee 9y ago

Dodge seemed to have the bulk of LE business with the Charger after ford quit building the Crown Vic from about 2008ish until the last few years. Most of the Police Departments around here went with the Charger, but now almost all of them seem to be moving to the Explorer. One of the reasons that was cited at a city council meeting was that the Explorer had a lower TCO, especially when it came to maintenance packages, and repair costs. I'm not sure if that is the general trend everywhere or just here. Because living in a smaller city 30k in the city, 70k total in a fairly large land area county. A SUV seems like it might be more versatile in a more rural setting.