An American police cruiser with an Australian twist has touched down in Queensland.
Two Dodge Charger Pursuit cars outfitted for police work and converted to right-hand drive by SCD Remanufactured are on the ground.
The Charger Pursuit is built by Dodge in Ontario, Canada specifically for police work, with tough steel wheels designed to handle kerb strikes, bigger brakes, and seats that can accomodate big-bodied cops wearing bulky uniforms.
UPDATE, 3:50pm 19/07/2021 – CarExpert has contacted Queensland Police to see if the Charger is being evaluated for a role on the force, as is claimed by SCD. Until it’s confirmed, we’ve removed mention of a trial from our story.
It also has an LED light bar integrated into its front bumper, and can be specced with rear- or all-wheel drive, and a choice of V6 or V8 engines.
The V6 is the familiar ‘Pentastar’ naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre mill with 223kW of power and 357Nm, while the 5.7-litre ‘Hemi’ V8 pumps out 275kW and 535Nm.
One of the cars in Australia is a rear-drive, the other an all-wheel drive. Both pack the V6 engine, and feature built-in light bars and bulletproof doors/windows.
A basic rear-drive V6 will cost around $100,000 delivered, SCD Remanufactured co-owner Eddie Kocwa told CarExpert, but the cars can be ordered in a huge range of configurations with varying prices.
Mr Kocwa says each right-hand drive conversion creates around 200 hours of work in Australia when suppliers and hands-on SCD employees are taken into account.
He’s pushing state governments and police forces, along with local councils, to use locally remanufactured vehicles that deliver what he describes as a “net benefit to the country”.
Currently, the Queensland Police Service is using the Kia Stinger as a Highway Patrol car, and has recently ordered a batch of hybrid Toyotas as general duties patrol vehicles.
The Stinger follows generations of locally-manufactured, V8-powered Holden and Ford sedans on the force.
Police forces around Australia are now using everything from the Stinger to the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and Volkswagen Passat.
The Charger Pursuit will join the Ram 1500 in the SCD Remanufactured fleet, should it get off the ground.
The company is a certified volume importer for the latest DT Ram 1500, and has recently started distributing cars through its new Aus MV business around the country.
Based in Queensland, the company converts cars for Australia and export markets such as Papua New Guinea, backed with a three-year/100,000km warranty.
Its cars come off the American production line, before SCD Remanufactured uses what it calls a zero-backlash transfer box to change left-hand drive cars to right-hand drive.
The box means accessories and lift kits designed for left-hand drive vehicles can still be bolted on, and minimises the amount of expensive, complicated conversion work that needs to be done in the engine bay.
