Chevy’s Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV) isn’t selling so well. For the first six months of the year, the police-duty full-size sedan was responsible for 803 sales in the U.S., down 54 percent compared to the 1,732 units sold during the first six months of 2014.
Demand for the Caprice PPV peaked in June 2014 with 434 sales; in June 2015, only 159 units were sold. Alas, it doesn’t look like the Caprice will break the 2,000 sales mark for the calendar year as a whole year. To note, sales of the Caprice’s smaller, and enthusiast-focused brother, the Chevrolet SS Performance Sedan, are also down, but not as drastically.
Chevrolet SS Performance Sedan Results - First Half 2015
| MODEL | JUN 15 / JUN 14 | JUNE 15 | JUNE 14 | YTD 15 / YTD 14 | YTD 15 | YTD 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAPRICE | -63.36% | 159 | 434 | -53.64% | 803 | 1,732 |
Though the Caprice is only available to American police forces rather than to regular car buyers, its sales downfall can be attributed to the gradual decline in popularity of the large sedan in police forces across the country. In fact, American police departments seem to be favoring crossovers and large SUVs for their task forces.
GM isn’t the only one seeing drops in police-duty sedan sales: cross-town rival Ford saw sales of its Police Interceptor Sedan slide, though not as much as those of the Caprice PPV. The Taurus-based Police Interceptor Sedan was down 5 percent to 5,136 units during the first six months of 2015, and down a more worry-some 31.1 percent to 756 units in June 2015. By contrast, sales of Ford’s Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility were up 36 percent to 12,900 during the first six months of 2015.
But even with the increased popularity of crossovers for the men and women and blue, we hate to see Ford sell more than Chevy in the police sedan department. Perhaps it has something to do with the Taurus/Police Interceptor Sedan being available with features like all-wheel drive and two EcoBoost turbo-charged engines, neither of which is offered by the Caprice, which rides on GM’s rear-drive Zeta platform, essentially being a slightly-modified Holden Caprice from Australia, from where it is imported. At the least we know that GM can always add those features to the Chevy Impala to take on the Taurus head-on… but will it?
Sales Results - June 2015 - USA - Chevrolet
| MODEL | JUN 2015 / JUN 2014 | JUNE 2015 | JUNE 2014 | YTD 2015 / YTD 2014 | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAMARO | +11.53% | 8,611 | 7,721 | -8.74% | 42,593 | 46,672 |
| CAPRICE | -63.36% | 159 | 434 | -53.64% | 803 | 1,732 |
| CAPTIVA SPORT | -99.90% | 4 | 3,959 | -99.82% | 53 | 28,811 |
| CITY EXPRESS | * | 1,073 | * | * | 4,284 | * |
| COLORADO | +12,758.82% | 6,558 | 51 | +56,852.05% | 41,575 | 73 |
| CORVETTE | +3.08% | 2,807 | 2,723 | +3.17% | 18,307 | 17,744 |
| CRUZE | -12.92% | 22,647 | 26,008 | -11.97% | 127,938 | 145,338 |
| EQUINOX | +0.06% | 21,760 | 21,748 | +20.57% | 145,685 | 120,831 |
| EXPRESS | -35.62% | 5,238 | 8,136 | -32.44% | 26,697 | 39,514 |
| IMPALA | -41.54% | 8,406 | 14,378 | -26.02% | 58,071 | 78,499 |
| MALIBU | -5.63% | 15,228 | 16,137 | -6.75% | 96,520 | 103,505 |
| SILVERADO | +18.45% | 51,548 | 43,519 | +14.60% | 275,822 | 240,679 |
| SONIC | -18.77% | 7,894 | 9,718 | -26.62% | 36,976 | 50,390 |
| SPARK | +4.02% | 3,857 | 3,708 | -12.96% | 19,409 | 22,299 |
| SS | +63.13% | 354 | 217 | -7.70% | 1,534 | 1,662 |
| SUBURBAN | -54.50% | 2,996 | 6,584 | -0.78% | 23,386 | 23,571 |
| TAHOE | -44.45% | 6,192 | 11,147 | -8.17% | 42,091 | 45,838 |
| TRAVERSE | -17.66% | 8,721 | 10,592 | +18.01% | 61,430 | 52,053 |
| TRAX | * | 5,971 | * | * | 24,815 | * |
| VOLT | -31.06% | 1,225 | 1,777 | -34.74% | 5,622 | 8,615 |
| CHEVROLET TOTAL | -3.88% | 181,256 | 188,567 | +2.50% | 1,053,619 | 1,027,908 |
Sales Results - June 2015 - USA - GM Totals
| BRAND | JUN 2015 / JUN 2014 | JUNE 2015 | JUNE 2014 | YTD 2015 / YTD 2014 | YTD 2015 | YTD 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHEVROLET TOTAL | -3.88% | 181,256 | 188,567 | +2.50% | 1,053,619 | 1,027,908 |
| CADILLAC TOTAL | -3.06% | 13,515 | 13,941 | -1.48% | 80,899 | 82,117 |
| BUICK TOTAL | -18.09% | 17,531 | 21,403 | -6.31% | 106,314 | 113,472 |
| GMC TOTAL | +8.04% | 47,051 | 43,550 | +13.92% | 264,713 | 232,371 |
| GM USA TOTAL | -3.03% | 259,353 | 267,461 | +3.41% | 1,505,545 | 1,455,868 |
Comments
Time for Chevrolet to offer AWD in its mainstream sedans. The parts already exist for Impala, if they’re afraid of impacting Cadillac XTS sales then the XTS needs to go away as part of taking Cadillac further up the food chain.
And an AWD Caprice with its innate LS-series goodness should ring up some sales in the time the platform has left.
Isn’t Zeta not capable of AWD? I don’t think it is, but I may be wrong.
But yes, it’s time for Chevy to give Impala some goodness from the XTS, including AWD, better technology like the HUD, and also Magentic Ride Control. The turbo V6 would be a plus as well.
Zeta never offered AWD, but it was theoretically capable. Like Sigma II, which is based on Zeta, it probably could have used Sigma I’s AWD system. The AWD system on Sigma II was virtually unchanged from Sigma I.
Since Zeta was based on Sigma itself, I can’t see it not bolting on up if Sigma II (itself based on Zeta) bolted up to the same AWD system.
I suspect AWD would have been optional on the Velite, filling the no-AWD-convertible product gap against Audi.
I had hoped Alpha would have born a Caprice for cops, but it’s not happening. That would have been amazing with Haldex AWD.
Zeta is very capable of being adapted for AWD, as it was initially planned to have a successor to the Adventra and Cross 6/8 which came off the previous platform.
May be a lot of police departments can not buy the caprice because it is not built in the NAFTA region.
What are sales of the Tahoe PPV?
The increased value of the USD vis-a-vis the Australian dollar should make these vehicles a lot more competitive and profitable but delivery time might be an issue unless there is a field stock somewhere.
The NAFTA rule has hurt many departments and prevented sales.
The other issue is even with the exchange the price on these are not cheap and Chrysler and Ford have undercut GM’s prices. At least that is what we have seen here.
My neighbor is in line for a new Sheriff Explorer but he hates them and is holding on to the old one as long as they will let him.
Yep. Caprice PPV was developed back when there was going to be a domestic Zeta plant for Impala (originally supposed to be on Zeta), alongside G8 and possibly Velite and Camaro, though the latter two may have stayed in Canada.
My local department owns a few Caprices and loves them, but most won’t buy because it’s not built here.
G8 was never intended for US production, though. The only US produced vehicle that came off Zeta was the Camaro, which even that had significant Australian development input. The Zeta-based Impala you mention would’ve been not much more than a rebadged Caprice (much like the nineties Impala SS was) sent to the US in CKD kits for assembly, but since that didn’t come to fruition, Pontiac started looking at the Commodore to be sold as the G8, albeit with a few minor cosmetic changes.
It’s always sad to see this sort of news in regards to an old school larger sedan. I can count on one hand the number of police CAPRICE models in a one year time frame around here and still have a few fingers left. True, many departments are moving toward the FORD EXPLORER police version so the market bears that out. I don’t like those and I’m not a cop. The wheelbase is short and I prefer sedan longer the better. The IMPALA will likely get some sort of police upgrade I think since the CAPRICE has days that are numbered.
The availability of AWD combined with the larger load carrying capacity of the Ford Police Interceptor Utility has earned it the vehicle of choice with very large purchasers, such as the California Highway Patrol. In fact, the load capacity was the number one feature that sold the CHP on the vehicle as I recall. Combined with the 365 HP rating and it is a very capable vehicle. As a former officer, and an Explorer owner, I was skeptical until I had the opportunity to drive one. They are impressive. Having driven Crown Vic’s, Caprices, Impalas and the Dodge Pursuit, I’m convinced the only reason many agencies do not opt for the Dodge is the poor fuel mileage with the V8 with equivalent power to the Ford. Same for the Caprice when fuel out here has to be taken into the equation.