Move Over Holden: The Kia Stinger GT Is Australia's Newest Police Car

With the Ford and Holden factories in Australia now long gone, police forces across the country now face a dilemma: when all those Falcon and Commodore patrol cars retire, what should they be replaced with?

For Queensland Police, the answer came in the form of of the new Kia Stinger GT. It makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s rear-wheel drive, it’s pretty large, and it has a large engine. Well, it’s 3.3-litre twin-turbo, which is pretty damn big compared to what you’d find in the average UK cop car.

It’s certainly of the same ilk as the Falcon and Commodore, and 50 will make their debut on the Queensland fleet this week, News.com.au reports. All 200 of the force’s patrol cars will be replaced by Stingers eventually.

Mike Keating, Queensland Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner, had plenty of praise for the car. “The Stinger performed very well in all areas and we had nothing but top reports from all the field officers,” he said.

As for other forces, New South Wales has opted for BMW 530d and Chrysler 300 SRTs, with Victoria ordering only the BMWs thus far. According to News.com.au, Kia is thought to be “actively pursuing the police fleet business,” so we may yet see more Stinger GT patrol cars.