Hybrids aren’t just growing in popularity with private buyers and business fleets – the police are quite taken with them, too.
CarExpert understands the Queensland Police Service now has 573 hybrid vehicles on its fleet, which totals more than 2800 vehicles.
The last of the VF Holden Commodores are being phased out of the QPS fleet, with the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid becoming the default general duties vehicles in urban areas.
For the vast expanses of inland Queensland, the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, 200 Series and Prado remain king.
Camry Hybrids have been becoming increasingly common fixtures on Queensland roads in police livery over the past 10 years, but the RAV4 Hybrid is a new arrival.
All models are in GX AWD guise, the most affordable all-wheel drive hybrid variant.
CarExpert understands the QPS was initially unable to order these models 12 months in advance, which hampered forward planning efforts for its fleet renewal.
The law enforcement agency is now working directly with Toyota to secure these models ahead of time.
Expect the number of hybrid Toyotas on the QPS fleet to increase as current general duties Hyundai Sonata Turbos reach the end of their working lives.
Speed cameras, for a time typically found in the back of a Mercedes-Benz Vito or Volkswagen Caddy, are now being pointed out the rear window of Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs.
As speed camera vans are left to idle while in use to power the equipment, the advantage of a plug-in hybrid for this role is that they won’t use their engine at all during their deployment.
Officers in the QPS’ Road Policing Command, which primarily handles highway patrol and traffic duties, will soon have the Toyota Kluger on rotation.
The Road Policing Command fleet are gaining five Klugers, though these are all-wheel drive, V6-powered models rather than hybrids.
They are replacing a fleet of five Mercedes-AMG C43 sedans which wore Fatal Five livery and join a fleet of vehicles dominated by the Kia Stinger 330S, but which also includes the Subaru Levorg.
The Stinger replaced the locally-built Holden VF Commodore SV6 and SS within the Road Policing Command fleet; general duties Commodores were typically less powerful, 3.0-litre V6-equipped Evoke models.
While Toyota’s share of the QPS fleet has continued to grow, there are still multiple Korean vehicles on fleet.
These include the Hyundai iLoad Crew Van, used primarily for prison transport, as well as the Sonata sedan used for general duties.
