Caprice PPV the feds' favourite

Fleet sales are not usually the stuff of bragging rights — and government fleet sales even less so — but Holden has achieved a noteworthy result, of sorts, with its Caprice PPV in America.

According to market statistician, RL Polk — as reported by motoring website Edmunds.com — the Caprice's government sales account for the vast majority of the car's tally in the US. In fact, at 79.2 per cent, the Caprice is far and away the car that sells the largest share, by percentage, to government fleets.

That's hardly a surprise for a vehicle that was specifically developed for use by police in America; GM's intention being to displace the venerable (and now discontinued) Ford Crown Victoria as the standard North American cop car. Law enforcement agencies are statutory bodies, hence the high proportion of government ownership for the Caprice PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle).

The Ford still ranks as proportionally the second most popular vehicle (57.2 per cent of total units) among government fleet sales.

Holden shipped 2655 cars to North America last year, of which 880 were sold before the end of 2011. A further batch of 546 has been sold to date this year. That's a small number, but healthy for a company battling a strong Aussie dollar.

Some Chevrolet dealers — the Caprice PPV is branded a Chevrolet in America — were selling the vehicle to private buyers initially, but GM and Chevrolet quickly put a stop to that. So that leads us to ask this question: How many of those cars fell into the hands of private buyers in the first instance... and what sort of buyers constitute the balance of the nearly 300 cars that aren't government owned?

We hope there's nothing sinister going on, like private owners donning the aviator sunnies and pulling up in a Caprice out the front of the local fast-food shop — to make a fraudulent demand for free donuts/hamburgers/coffee…

Watch Holden's history of export over the years.