Posts Tagged ‘Chevrolet Impala’
Crown Victoria Turns in its Badge
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Ford Motor Co. recently met with the heads of several of the nation’s largest police fleets in Dearborn, MI to talk about the future of police vehicles.
The Crown Victoria, an invaluable asset to police fleets for years, is being discontinued. Ford has not sold the Crown Vic to consumers since 2007, but will continue to produce the cars as fleet vehicles until 2011. Although the Crown Victoria is on its way out, Ford is committed to remaining an integral part of America’s police force.
Ford’s major offer to the nation’s police fleets has been the new Taurus sedan. While it may seem like an excellent opportunity for an upgrade, the Taurus and other newer cars lack some of the features that made the Crown Victoria so effective. The Crown Vic was a body-on-frame car, which made it extremely tough and easy to repair in the event of a collision. It has a column shifter, which frees up the center console area for guns and electronic equipment. It also boasts enough rear space for a spacious trunk while still accommodating two suspects in the back seat.
In addition to these major features, most aftermarket police equipment is built specifically to fit inside a Crown Victoria. When some fleets attempted to switch their fleets over to Chevrolet Impalas, they found that their communications equipment would not fit in the vehicles. The Crown Victoria also has rear-wheel drive, which allows for greater handling and more even weight distribution.
With these features missing from many of its current models, Ford has yet to decide on what vehicle will be chosen to replace the Crown Victoria when it finally retires.
“We’ve got some big decisions to make, and we’re making them,” said Jim Farley, head of global sales, marketing and service for Ford. “We have no intention of walking away from our share of that market.”
Other companies are anxious to take over Ford’s contract with police fleets; other big automakers are eyeing the prize, but the Canadian Auto Workers and some small start-ups are also looking to provide law enforcement agencies with the perfect police cruiser. Ford however, is determined to stay in the game, and not just for the money: Ford Americas President Mark Fields says “Every municipality has police, so you have Ford product everywhere across the country. It reinforces that Ford is part of the community.”
Photo courtesy of banspy under the Creative Commons License.
Tags: American police force, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Impala, Crown Victoria, fleet, fleet vehicles, Ford, Ford Motor Co, Impala, Taurus
Posted in Industry News | 1 Comment »
Enterprise Leaves Out Airbags on Impala Fleet
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Enterprise Rent-a-Car saved millions of dollars by deleting side-curtain air bags from thousands of fleet vehicles, according to the Kansas City Star.
Enterprise purchased about 66,000 2006-08 model-year Chevrolet Impalas missing side-curtain airbags. The lack of airbags saved Enterprise about $175 per vehicle, for a total savings of $11.5 million.
After the Impalas were removed from fleet service, the rental company and several dealers nationwide made the cars available for resale to consumers. However, when the cars were advertised online, they were listed as having the missing safety feature. 745 buyers took the company up on their offer, unaware that the cars were missing side-curtain airbags.
Enterprise maintains that no federal mandates prevented them from omitting side-curtain airbags from the vehicles and stand behind their decision to do so. The St. Louis- based company did admit, however, that they made a mistake in online advertising. Enterprise VP for Corporate Communications Christy Conrad stated that there was a “glitch” in Enterprises’s system that listed the cars (only online) of having side-curtain airbags.
Enterprise plans to rectify the issue by sending letters to every person who bought one of the vehicles explaining the problem. The company will also offer to buy back the cars at $750 above Kelley Blue Book value.
Roughly 3,000 Impalas have been sold to consumers on Enterprise-owned lots, both properly and improperly advertised.
GM says it has since discontinued the option of removing side-curtain airbags for the 2009 model year.
Remember: always make sure you know what your fleet is getting when you buy and sell vehicles. Thorough inspections and communications with sellers are essential to ensure the health of new fleet vehicles.
Tags: Chevrolet Impala, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, General Motors, GM, Kansas City Star, Kelley Blue Book
Posted in Industry News | 1 Comment »
