The Last American Cop ‘Car’ Has Been Retired
When the current Dodge Challenger and Charger go out production this year it won’t just mark the end of Mopar’s V8-powered muscle car era.
The Charger is the last pursuit-rated law enforcement vehicle that is not a truck or utility vehicle. Ever since Ford discontinued the Taurus in 2018, the Charger Pursuit has been the only pursuit-rated sedan available to law enforcement.
Dodge offers it with with either a 3.6-liter V6 and all-wheel-drive or a 5.7-liter V8 and rear-wheel-drive, with the latter putting in a better performance on the benchmark Michigan State Police vehicle dynamics track test.
It did come in second to the all-wheel-drive EcoBoost Ford Explorer-based Police Interceptor SUV by .9 seconds with a 96.3-second lap, but beat the all-wheel-drive Dodge Durango V8 that remains available by 2.4 seconds.
THE DODGE CHALLENGER IS THE LAST CAR WITH AN OLD-SCHOOL FEATURE THAT’S GOING EXTINCT
General Motors dropped out of the pursuit sedan segment with the end of Chevrolet Caprice production in 2017, but still sells a non-pursuit Malibu for patrol and detective work. The Malibu will, in fact, be the only four-door sedan sold by a mainstream American brand in 2024.
Some police departments have taken it on their own to deploy the Tesla Model 3 compact electric sedan in a law enforcement role, but the automaker does not officially sell a pursuit-rated version and it has not been evaluated by the Michigan State Police.
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Dodge will be replacing the V8-powered versions of the Challenger and Charger with an all-electric vehicle that was previewed by the Charger Daytona SRT Concept, but only two-door versions of the car have been shown so far.
Dodge has not indicated any plans to offer a pursuit-rated version, but the platform it is built on can also accommodate internal combustion engines and will possibly spawn a four-door Dodge or Chrysler at some point in the future.
THE LAST V8-POWERED CHRYSLER 300C HAS BEEN BUILT
As far as electric police vehicles are concerned, the Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV doesn’t technically come with a pursuit package, but the GT model has been put through the Michigan State Police tests. Several departments, including the NYPD, have added them to their fleets with custom upfits.
However, Chevrolet has unveiled plans for a Blazer EV Pursuit model, but it has not yet been tested or released.
Dodge’s history of offering specific police packages for its cars dates back to 1956 with the introduction of the Coronet 230 Pursuit, which was advertised as “the most powerful police car on the American Road today,” thanks to its 260 hp Super Red Ram 315-cubic-inch V8.
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