Kia Stinger pursuit cars close in

Queensland Police Service could become the first Australian police force to deploy the piping-hot Kia Stinger V6 as a highway patrol vehicle.

However, it won’t do battle with the Ford Mustang and Holden Commodore in the Australian Supercars race series any time soon.

Twin-turbo six-cylinder versions of the Korean sedan are currently being tested by almost all Australian states following the end of Ford Falcon and now Holden Commodore production Down Under.

This includes NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, but not Victoria, Tasmania or the Northern Territory.

Kia Motors Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith told motoring.com.au that Stinger pursuit vehicles are most likely to be seen in Queensland first, if the rear-drive sports sedan is approved for highway patrol duty.

“If it happens, Queensland is likely to be the first [Australian state to employ Stinger highway patrol cars],” he said.

Two pursuit-spec Kia Stinger V6s are currently being tested in north and south Queensland, where these online images surfaced, following minor modifications to the vehicle’s wiring loom.

The Stinger GT liftback’s boot space and Brembo brakes meet police patrolling requirements, as does its 272kW/510Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6, which propels the car to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds and a 270km/h top speed.

But highway patrol Stingers will likely roll on 18-inch rubber because the police want a spare tyre on board and the 19-inch tyres used at the top of the range are staggered.

Along with a host of other models from a variety of manufacturers – including Kia and its own Sonata and Sorento models -- a number of four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbo versions of the Kia Stinger are already being employed as general-duties police vehicles in a range of Aussie states.

As we’ve reported, however, NSW police are believed to have signed a fleet deal for up to 200 examples of the 350kW Chrysler 300 SRT from this year, while BMW will supply VicPol with 80 examples of the 530d sedan for highway patrol duty by the end of 2018.

Other vehicles believed to be in contention for highway patrol work in various states include Holden’s imported Commodore VXR and the upcoming Genesis G80 – both large rear-drive V6s.

NSW Police’s highway patrol fleet is the largest in Australia with about 400 cars, but any contract to supply pursuit cars in the Sunshine State as its fleet of Commodore SS and Falcon XR6 Turbo vehicles is pensioned off could be lucrative.

“Queensland Police Service Fleet Governance Group is completing a review of a range of vehicles to assess their suitability for police work,” Queensland Police Service confirmed to motoring.com.au today.

“One specific function under review at the moment is road policing operations. The evaluation process has a number of stages including field trials.

“As part of the field trials, one [of] the vehicles was a Kia Stinger which was deployed around MacKay and more recently in one of the metropolitan locations.’

However, Queensland Police Service declined to reveal the results of the field trials or when they will be completed.

“As the evaluation process has not been completed, QPS cannot comment on the assessment of any of the vehicles within the trials.

“QPS looks forward to finding a suitable platform to suit our needs. QPS is grateful to Kia and other manufacturers for supporting the trial.”

Supply shortages
Any state road policing vehicle contract would be a significant shot in the arm for Kia Stinger sales, which Meredith said continue to be restricted by limited supplies.

He said Stinger sales were running at around 180 a month, with V6s accounting for a higher share than expected at about 85 per cent – all of them to private buyers.

Of an initial trade-in sample, 28 per cent of Stinger buyers were people who already owned a Kia, with Commodore owners comprising the biggest ‘conquest’ group at 18 per cent.

Surprisingly, 60 per cent of customers who ordered the Stinger V6 have opted for the louder Australian-made bi-modal exhaust system released as an official Kia option last month – despite costing an extra $2689 (fitted).

Meredith said that given free supply Kia could eventually sell between 250 and 350 Stingers a month – more than 4000 annually.

“As the Commodore emotion dies down and they’re actually out of selling [homegrown] Commodore, then we’ll see an increase,” he said.

Stinger for Supercars?
The local Kia boss also left the door open to entering the Stinger in the Australian Supercars Championship, for which Ford confirmed the Mustang yesterday, but not in the foreseeable future.

“Good luck to them,” he said of Ford when asked if Kia would join it in Australia’s premier motorsport category.

“We haven’t got the expertise internally to do it. [But] If Stinger sales were booming and supply opened up, then we’d look at it.”