REPORT: Group working on bringing Holden Commodore to U.S. police forces

Naturally, the death of the Pontiac brand has put a crimp in sales plans at Holden, General Motors' Australian arm that assembles and exports the Pontiac G8, essentially a lightly reworked version of the brand's own Commodore sedan. Interestingly, according to Aussie website GoAuto, a most unlikely new player may be preparing to make up for the sales short: a consortium led by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Currently, Ford sells about 60,000 Crown Vics each year for fleet use, with the majority of those going to various police units around the United States, but production of the Jurassic rear-drive Ford isn't likely to continue past next year, and it is thought that Dodge's Charger probably won't pick up all of the slack, so alternatives will be needed. With that in mind, Port Melbourne-based National Safety Agency has created a new prototype patrol vehicle based on the Pontiac G8 that could be rebadged as a Chevrolet and sold to law enforcement units in the United States and abroad.

There's even chatter that the new model could be made available for retail sale at Chevrolet dealerships. Not surprisingly, Holden has expressed interest in the project, though it's taking a measure approach given the current state of the American automobile industry. If this vehicle does come to fruition, it will be interesting to see how it competes against the Carbon Motors E7, another new vehicle specifically designed for police use.

[Source: GoAuto]

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