Photo by Kia

Queensland, Australia’s police department is rolling out 50 Kia Stinger patrol cars this week after the sports sedan received “top reports” from officers, News.com.au reports. This is not surprising, since the car seems like a perfect car for this job.


The news website says police departments throughout Australia are moving to replace Holden Commodore V8s and Ford Falcons, now that the companies that built them have shuttered their factories. I guess Aussie cops aren’t easily parted from their performance sedans.

While some organizations have gone with BMWs or Chryslers as highway patrol cars, the news site reports that Queensland has chosen the Kia Stinger. Fifty Kias are expected to be “rolled out across Queensland from this week,” News.com.au writes, and 200 are expected to eventually replace the third-most populous Australian state’s entire fleet.


Photo by Kia

The news site quotes Assistant Commissioner of the Road Policing Command, Mike Keating, who described how well the Stinger did in what news.com.au reports was an “extensive” evaluation process:



The Stinger performed very well in all areas and we had nothing but top reports from all the field officers...The result is a road policing first for us, the first foreign car to perform these duties.

The Queensland police minister also gave the Kia some love, saying:

You often hear Police Ministers talking about providing the best equipment for those at the coal face. In this case I truly believe we have been able to do that.




According to Carscoops, the new patrol cars will be 365-horsepower GT V6 models (the Stinger is also available with a 255 horsepower 2.0-liter inline-four) with all-wheel drive, and that they’ll be outfitted with a bunch of police equipment from “strobe lights and sirens to communication radios.”

I haven’t driven the Kia Stinger, but my boss has, and he called it “the real deal,” lauding its excellent Lambda II T-GDi V6 engine, its superb handling, and all the room in the cargo area (it’s a hatchback!). And really, what can you want in a police car? (Admittedly, Patrick said the rear headroom isn’t great, but the back seat of a cruiser isn’t meant to be plush. Don’t break the law if you don’t want to be back there.)


Queensland’s got the right idea, here, and I hope American police units hop onboard, too. That way, in 15 years, I can buy a used Stinger for a song.