US forces give the nod to Holden's "Police Caprice"

The boss of General Motors in North America, Mark Reuss, has slammed critics of the "Police Caprice" export program who claim its chances may be hampered by the vehicle's Made-In-Australia tag.

Rival brands also chasing the lucrative North American police car business have claimed that the Holden Caprice -- to be badged as a Chevrolet when it joins the beat this year -- will not find favour among some US police agencies that have a strict "buy American" policy.

But Reuss, a Detroiter and formerly the boss of Holden, dismissed those claims during a briefing with Australian journalists at the Detroit motor show overnight.

"We have shown the Caprice to a large number of agencies and [country of origin] has never once been raised," he said. "The only people asking me about it are the Australian media."

The two other vehicles in contention for the 80,000-a-year police car business are the Dodge Charger and the Ford Taurus after Ford announced it would axe the cop-car favourite, the Crown Victoria, after an almost 19-year reign.

Country of origin clearly was not a hurdle for Ford -- the Crown Victoria was made in Canada for all those years and the Dodge Charger currently comes from there. The new Ford Taurus police pack will, however, be made in Chicago.

Reuss said Australia and North America have good political and cultural relations and that extended to the car industry.

"The two countries like each other quite a bit," he said candidly. "This country loves Australian cars."

He said that, ultimately, Americans and Australians would benefit if the "Police Caprice" export deal took off.

"It's still an American company. The dividends that come out of Holden come back to the home country, America, and then America gives the money back locally."

Reuss said that the strong Australian dollar put a large dent in Holden's (and GM's) profit on the deal, but the company is thinking long term.

"We locked it away when the Aussie dollar bought 85 US cents," said the boss of Holden, Mike Devereux. "We're now close to parity and that has knocked us around quite a bit, but it is still business as usual for us."

Reuss said the Caprice had performed well in early, independent police tests but it was still too early to reveal order numbers.

"The police agencies have very strict and demanding protocols and they want the best equipment for them to perform their duties," Reuss said. "To date, our vehicle has come out on top during comparative testing. We are very proud of the vehicle and very pleased with the vehicle."

He said it was still the beginning of the tender process and order phase, but the early signs were promising.

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