The Los Angeles Police Department and Ford Motor Co. Monday unveiled two new Ford Fusion hybrid pursuit-rated police cars intended for use in the future.
Chief Charlie Beck was on hand outside police headquarters when the wraps were removed from the new Police Responders.
Beck lamented the discontinuance a few years ago of the iconic Ford Crown Victoria, a model that is still in use by his department and many others.
“Hopefully, this becomes the next iconic police vehicle,” he said.
The special Ford Fusions are built for patrol work with a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder gas engine and electric motor powered by a 1.4 kilowatt lithium ion battery. The vehicle can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and gets 38 miles to a gallon of gasoline, according to gadgetgestures.com.
LAPD officials have not said how many of the vehicles the department will purchase and when they will go into service. But the LAPD is committed to purchasing 300 hybrid and hybrid-electric plug-in vehicles by 2020, police spokesman Josh Rubenstein told the Los Angeles Times.
—City News Service