BMW halts sale of all police cars to forces in UK with immediate effect

[exeterjeep]

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/bmw-halts-the-sale-of-all-police-cars-to-forces-in-the-uk-with-immediate-effect/277526

Also says..

The halt of sales to the police follows a number of forces across the UK restricting duties carried out by BMW police cars featuring the N57 diesel engine.

Some forces stopped the cars being used for high speed pursuits and relegated them to ‘less stressful’ duties.

The N57 engine features in the 330d, 530d and X5 models used by police up and down the country.

 

[Bibs]

Swapping to Volvo's and VW's - Don't suppose it would have been an idea to buy British built cars, it's our money they're spending after all?

I'm not an insufferable patriot but surely it would have made sense to plough their buying volume into UK manufacturing, Nissan and Toyota have some practical options and Jag have some performance options for traffic? 

 

[exeterjeep]

Did not realise that this was still ongoing in some forces. Some dramatic pics/videos.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64471386

BBC finds police BMWs at risk of exploding still on the roads

[Sparky]

I happen to know a fair bit about German engines of recent years, and that is why I will never buy one.  The Met Police binned the VW contract last time because they were too unreliable; surprised they'd go there again.

[Bibs]

I'm sure I've said it before but they should really buy cars that are either British or at least built here. Would be a good boost to the industry. 

[jep]

We tried that pre-1980s, guaranteed sales via Government and colonies. In part this led to the failures of the mass UK car industry, too cosy and management didn't address structural problems within their businesses. 

Competition is good. I'd love to see only UK built vehicles used by public bodies but reality shows this is dangerous to the long term health of those industries. 

The same applies to France but they just ignore the truth and carry on.

Justin

 

[Kimbers]

Sadly they buy based on a rediculous set of reasons, none of which seem to be "Suitability for Policing". Constant High speed, 24 hours a day running, Heavy weights constantly carried etc etc.

A while back a certain Police force (which shall remain unmentioned) put out tenders to replace their aging Ford fleet. They had several tenders including Vauxhall, BMW, Peugeot & Ford.

The "Least Suitable" were Vauxhall, the best price and suitability were BMW then Peugeot, Ford in the middle. 

See if you can guess what they went with?

Vauxhall.

After the first batch of Astra Estates all failed in the first weeks of duty, they knew they had a problem. The cars just weren't suitable. They instantly went on to limp mode the first time you bounced them off the rev limiter, when all the Police gear was in the back they were super light on the front end and felt very unstable at speed on long corners and they were unreliable.

The reason they decided to go was 1. The decision is made by Civilians at the Council and 2. It was considered that public perception would not approve Police having BMW's due to their false perception they are expensive. After the initial vehicles were delivered it was too late to go BMW as they had withdrawn from the market. They are now buying the 2nd most suitable, the Peugeots which feel so much better on corners, smoother at speed and rarely break.

THAT's the rediculousness of purchasing decisions made by people in charge on vehicles in the civil service.