Carbon Motors Puts a German Heart in a New American Police Car

Things are starting to get interesting for Carbon Motors, a new American automobile company that will be introducing it's first car, a police cruiser, in 2012.

First was the announcement from Ford, two weeks ago, that the car that currently holds 70% of the police market -- the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor -- would be retired. Yesterday brings news from Carbon plans to use BMW's turbo-diesel powertrain to propel its new cruiser. Can't you just hear Elwood saying, "It's got a cop motor, a three-liter diesel plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks."? Carbon has ordered 240,000 of the engines.
Considering that the whole police market is only 65,000 cars a year, Carbon is betting big that the cop car Ford rolled out to replace the old Crown Vic, a special-edition Ford Taurus, is going to bomb. And Carbon has history on its side: Ford tried selling a police Taurus once before, in 1990. Not many cops cottoned to the front wheel drive Taurus configuration, and it went nowhere. This time around the new police Taurus will be have all-wheel drive and a high-performance engine option.

Yet, the purpose-built nature of the Carbon gives it all sorts of selling points that the Taurus doesn't have. The E7 is the same size as the Taurus, yet has a lot more room inside. The back doors are big, and hinged in the rear, making them all easier to stuff bad guys into. The front seats are protected by bulletproof glass and panels. Flashing lights are built into the roof and bumpers, making the car more aerodynamic, and less visible to whomever the car is sneaking up on. And there are all sorts of high tech just-for-police goodies, like an automatic license plate reader, nightvision-compliant interior lights, and video and audio feeds of what's going on in the back seat.

If you were a cop, which would you choose?

photo: Carbon Motors