The New South Wales Police Force and Porsche Cars Australia have agreed to continue with a program fostering goodwill within the community. And the unlikely lynchpin of the program is a Panamera on loan for promotional purposes.
In a press release issued yesterday, PCA advised that the program would continue "well into 2014," albeit with a new Panamera joining the ranks of the thin blue line. Whereas the previous car was a base model V6 with rear-wheel drive, the new car is a twin-turbo V6 4S model with all-wheel drive and costing around 50 per cent more, just under $300,000. The new Panamera sports a different style of police livery, developed through a Facebook competition named 'Design a Police Porsche'. 40,000 visitors viewed the page and 200 entries for the competition were received from all over the country.
In its 12 months 'on the beat', the previous police Panamera showed up at over 50 community events. While the car has been housed by the Police Force's Harbourside Local Area Command, it is also shared with other Commands and has been seen at numerous primary schools around Sydney.
"The Porsche police car turns heads and generates fascination, which is exactly what it is designed to do so it can allow us to begin dialogue with the community and discuss issues surrounding community welfare," says NSW Police Force Superintendent Alan Sicard.
"We have a strong presence on social media and to date we've had some 700,000 hits on our facebook page directly related to the Porsche."
Lending the Panamera to the NSW Police Force falls within Porsche's 'Corporate Social Responsibility' program, which supports specific causes for the benefit of the community. The program also underpins the Lighthouse Foundation, a charity campaigning to end youth homelessness.
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