Ford is trying to persuade Britain’s police forces that the new 250hp Focus ST estate can play a key law-enforcement role.
The firm displayed a police-liveried ST wagon recently at the National Association of Police Officers blue light exhibition in Peterborough, and Terry Adams, Ford’s direct sales and marketing manager for police, fire and ambulance sales, believes its performance, flexibility and load capability provide scope for marked and unmarked operational duty, including rapid response roles.
Some police forces have run the previous-generation ST hatch as an unmarked vehicle.
The Blue Oval’s blue light business generates around 1500 emergency vehicle sales annually, most of them modified to individual forces’ requirements by Safeguard Special Vehicle Preparations, based near Colchester, Essex.
Adams said: “We are in the business of providing bespoke cars and vans, and unlike other companies we do not distress our emergency services’ vehicle sales.
“We know how demanding police forces are of their vehicles, which must be high performers on all fronts, and issues like upgraded brakes and suspensions are part of that service.
“The ST takes Ford from its historic role as a provider of Zephyrs and Zodiacs plus Anglia panda patrol cars to uniform and ‘Q’ cars [understated high-performance cars] in the case of our new high-performance Focus estate.”
This is first time Ford has produced an ST-badged estate, having previously only three- and five-door versions, although David Calder, Focus product manager, admitted that the ST is unlikely to be more than a “minority fleet player”.
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