The police are testing new cars: replacing old Mercedes-Benz cars with BMW and Ford cars

A new police car was spotted in the north last night. This concerns the BMW X1, which together with the Ford Kuga will replace the old Mercedes-Benz.

These models are used by the police as so-called “basic police vehicles”. They are currently still under testing. The intention is for all officers to drive it at once in the coming weeks. In addition to BMW, the police will also use Ford cars. They do this to reduce the risk of birth problems.

For the police, surveillance cars must meet several specific requirements: for example, cornering, braking behaviour, driving over speed bumps and acceleration, but also general driving comfort. It is also checked whether agents can enter and exit easily.

Problems with older models

Since 2019, the police have mainly used the Mercedes B-class, which replaced the Volkswagen Touran introduced in 2016. In both cases, the police received numerous complaints from officers. In the case of Volkswagen cars, this had to do with the automatic braking function; According to officers, the Volkswagens were “very cramped.” According to some officers, the Mercedes B-Class was too small.

If all goes according to plan in the police, the new cars will be fully deployed from 2025.

The police also own a small number of other BMWs with police stripes. It's about the BMW X5. There was one during Memorial Day. The BMW X5 is also used by police around Schiphol.

The police also have Toyota Land Cruisers and the National Police Unit (including traffic police) drives an Audi A6. These Audis are known to police as Rapid Intervention Vehicles (SIVs).