Toyota takes aim at cop car business

While Holden is looking to secure a major export deal selling the Caprice as a cop car in North America, Toyota Australia is understood to have turned its attention to the local constabulary.

The Carsales Network understands that Toyota has fast-tracked -- and is on the way to completing -- development of a special "police pack" version of its locally made Aurion V6 sedan to join Australian law enforcement ranks.

The Aurion V6 was considered as a possible "urgent duty" vehicle by the NSW Police not long after it was released in 2006. However, it failed a stringent braking test, which includes stopping from high speeds at regular intervals for an extended period of time -- to simulate stopping at intersections during a pursuit.

All pursuit vehicles used by NSW Police must pass this safety test, which measures a braking system's effectiveness in extreme driving situations and its resistance to brake fade. The test is similar to the one pioneered by Auto Motor Und Sport in Germany, regarded by the car industry as among world's best practice.

Both Holden and Ford already modify the brakes and/or fit larger brakes to the pursuit cars they sell to NSW Police. Mitsubishi fit more fade-resistant brake pads to its current Lancer sedans used for general duties police work.

The police upgrades to the Toyota Aurion V6 are understood to include a new performance brake package similar to the one developed for the now defunct TRD Aurion program.

Other changes are said to include a special wiring harness that will allow the police to fit their equipment in less time, costing less money.

Toyota Australia declined to comment on the police car program, but the Carsales Network has been told an announcement is due later in the year.

The police fleet business nationally accounts for more than 20,000 sales each year and sedans make up more than half this figure.

Toyota Australia is also understood to be in discussions with the Melbourne-based National Safety Agency, which helps develop technology for emergency vehicles on behalf of all states and territories in Australia.

The NSA, which employs former police officers, also works with other international police agencies on emergency vehicle technology.

Most recently NSA helped establish contact with North American police departments, a potentially lucrative export market for Holden.

NSA used a Pontiac version of the Holden Commodore to display its latest technology at an international police conference in Sydney two years ago, and Holden has been working on a police car for the US ever since.

The Carsales Network understands that Toyota Australia is not looking to take any US export business away from the Holden Caprice police car -- but it may look to export a police pack to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Aurion V6's twin, the four-cylinder Toyota Camry, is already used by general duties police, local area commanders and detectives in NSW and other states, but they are not primary "urgent-duty" vehicles.

The Camry passed the NSW Police brake test -- even though it has the same size brakes as the Aurion -- because it didn't reach speeds as high as the Aurion did between each braking marker, and therefore was stopping from a lower speed in the test.

The Aurion V6, although not a rival to the turbocharged Falcons or V8-powered Commodores, could still be quite a force to be reckoned with.

Independent tests show the Aurion V6 is faster from 0 to 100km/h than both the regular Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore six-cylinder sedans.

A small number of Toyota Aurion V6 sedans are used by traffic police in Queensland (pictured) -- but that state does not have a specific braking test for its pursuit vehicles.

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