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Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV): The Details

chevy-caprice-featuredGM is at it again, teasing the Pontiac G8/Holden Commodore fanatic in us. This time, The General has announced the Chevy Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV) and it will be available for purchase to your friendly neighborhood police department in the Fall of 2010.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Caprice PPV is not based on the Holden Commodore, but is a rebadged Holden Statesman – the flagship sedan in Holden’s line-up. It’s also the largest implementation of the RWD Zeta platform that it shares with the Commodore/G8. The Statesman (203 inches) is 11 inches longer than the Commodore (192 inches).

The Caprice PPV contains four-wheel fully independent suspension, a six-speed automatic transmission, and a 90-degree OHV six-liter V8 powerplant good for 348hp and 381 ft-lb of torque. A V6 will be available for the 2012 model year, but that’s far less menacing, wouldn’t you say?

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The fact that the Caprice PPV rides on a longer wheelbase (118.5 inches) provides occupants a spacious interior that “improves officer comfort with more space for seat travel/recline in front of the safety barrier.” The seats of the police cruiser are contoured to accommodate equipment belts and quick entrance/exits while an auxiliary battery is included to help charge all those police tools/gizmos (taser, anyone?). The trunk contains a full-size spare.

The Caprice PPV will be available as a marked vehicle (9C1 package – equipped with standard front-seat-only head curtain-side airbags allowing for an installation of a full-width rear-seat barrier for officer safety) as well as an undercover cruiser (9C3 package for “detectives/supervisors,” which comes standard with full-length head curtain side air bags).

The Caprice PPV will be available through GM’s Fleet and Commercial division and will not be available to consumers. The question on our tongues is whether the availability of this police cruiser brings the Statesman and/or the Commodore one step closer to being available to the US consumer as a Chevy, Buick, or Cadillac. For now, we can only dream of this! One thing’s for sure, though: GM will sell these by the boatload, which will put it on more steady financial footing. And perhaps once The General begins to turn a profit, it will make the Commodore/Statesman generally available to consumers.

PS: as some readers have pointed out, the Caprice PPV is the only police cruiser that ships standard with a six-speed transmission. The Dodge Charger and Ford Crown Vic come with either a four or five-speed. Be sure not to get chased down by one of these bad boys!

[Source: Chevrolet Caprice PPV]

GM Authority Executive Editor with a passion for business strategy and fast cars.

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Comments

  1. The Caprice PPV looks just like the Caprice Royal. Very nice car indeed that offers a V8 with all the luxury amenities one could ask for. I seen this car in Dubai at the hotels where they use them to pick up guests at the airport. I just don’t understand why GM wait to bring something like this to the states when it’s been out for a while. Bomber!!

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