New Skoda Superb ready for police duty as Volkswagen Passat hands in its stripes

Police fleets across Australia will again be looking for a new alternative once the Volkswagen Passat reaches the end of the road, after a long line of soon-to-be extinct vehicles joined the force. And Skoda reckons it has a Superb replacement.

Police fleets across Australia will once again be sent back to the drawing board to come up with a new general duties patrol car as the latest vehicle of choice – the Volkswagen Passat – is about to be discontinued locally.

The Volkswagen Passat is the third soon-to-be-extinct vehicle that has been commissioned by police in Australia for general duties work over the past five years.

The other two previous models – the Hyundai Sonata and the imported version of the Holden Commodore – were also at the end of their production runs just as they earned their police stripes.

Photo credit: Police car images courtesy of New South Wales Police Vehicles Facebook page.

Industry analysts suspect these soon-to-be-extinct models were purchased by police fleet departments because car companies do super-sharp deals as a vehicle approaches the end of its lifecycle.

Given sedan sales have tanked globally, police fleet prices for the three most recent general duties sedans were understood to have been particularly sharp. 

However, fleet experts say there is a hidden cost of buying cars in bulk just before they are due to be discontinued – either ahead of a new model (as was the case with the Hyundai Sonata), or axed completely from the local market (as was the case with the Volkswagen Passat and imported Holden Commodore). 

There is less time for police to recoup the significant cost of engineering and designing new brackets and ancillaries to accomodate all the police equipment fitted to each vehicle.

Law enforcement departments have been struggling to fill the general duties void after the homegrown Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon went out of production in Australia five and six years ago respectively.

Despite having more than half a decade to find a suitable alternative, most police divisions in Australia are still scrambling to find a steady replacement for the hardest-working cars on the road.

Unlike rental cars and taxis, general duties police vehicles undergo a lifetime worth of wear-and-tear in two to three years because they are used daily for urgent-duty driving, which puts extra stress on the brakes, tyres and suspension.

After relying on Australian-made Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons for more than three decades – which included purpose-built models that could handle the daily demands of police work – there has not been a straightforward solution since the end of local car manufacturing in 2017.

Many police jurisdictions across Australia have wisely adopted SUVs – as is the case in the US and Europe – such as the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorrento and Toyota Kluger.

These larger vehicles give officers a commanding view of the road ahead, are roomier than sedans, and can carry more police emergency equipment in their cargo holds.

However, police in Australia – as with their counterparts in the US and Europe – still have a preference for sedans for certain roles. And it is here where law enforcement has struggled to find an ideal alternative.

The three most recent police sedans put on the road in NSW and Victoria – the Hyundai Sonata, the imported Holden Commodore, and the Volkswagen Passat – were all at the end of their product cycles by the time they were approved as general duties vehicles.

This meant, by the time the vehicles were tested and had been fitted out with new ancillaries, police fleets had only had a couple of years before they needed to start the process again with another vehicle.

Now Volkswagen-owned Czech brand Skoda wants to fill the void left by its mechanically-identical twin, the Volkswagen Passat.

Although a new Volkswagen Passat is about to go on sale in Europe, it is not coming to Australia because of declining sales locally.

However, Skoda says it is not ready to give up on traditional sedans and wagons just yet – and has a new model just around the corner (pictured below).

Police in Western Australia and New Zealand already have a fleet of Skoda general duties and pursuit cars.

However the company hopes the all-new model – due to be unveiled in the coming weeks and in local showrooms late next year – will find broader appeal among law enforcement.

Also, fitting out the new Skoda Superb at the start of its model cycle will give police agencies more time to recoup their development costs.

The global boss of Skoda, Klaus Zellmer, told a roundtable briefing with Australian media at last week’s Munich motor show the company had the highest regard for police vehicles and understood the demands placed on them.

“It certainly is a compliment,” said Mr Zellmer, when asked about what police fleet business meant to the Czech car brand.

“We have exactly the same situation in the Czech Republic. We equip all police cars with all the pre-requisites for police work.

“These are entities that us as citizens trust, and if they trust a vehicle like a Skoda, then it’s compliment.”

Above: A Skoda Superb police car in Western Australia.

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