[Jason]

BMW – the number one choice for the UK’s policing needs

* 26.10.2010
* Press Release

BMW has been approved as a key supplier for all 52 Police forces around the country by the National Policing Improvement Agency. The announcement means some of BMW’s class-leading products will become standard issue to the UK’s Policemen and women as part of the four-year deal.

The news will see cars such as the BMW 330d Saloon and Touring, 530d Saloon and Touring, all variants of X1, X3 xDrive20d, X5 xDrive30d and xDrive40d, and the R1200 RF-P Police bike all take a high profile role in the fight against crime. Some of the vehicles will also be unmarked and perform less visible policing roles.

While the latest 5 Series will be an all-new addition to most Police fleets it is the BMW 330d Saloon Interceptor model that is sure to cause the most interest. Billed as a High Performance Pursuit Vehicle, the modified BMW is capable of a rapid response role while also fulfilling the environmental and running cost demands all forces have to think of too. Full technical details of the car can not be specified for security reasons.

Tim Abbott, Managing Director of BMW UK, said: “This is excellent news for BMW and shows the breadth of appeal of the products we sell. We have a very strong commitment to the ‘Authorities market’ throughout the world and have a very close relationship with the UK’s Police forces. Orders for BMW Police vehicles started as long ago as the mid 1970’s in the UK. This latest news reaffirms our commitment to 21st Century policing.”

Of the 52 UK Police forces, virtually all operate BMW Authorities products of one form or another, while two thirds operate high-levels and nearly half of those operate with a near BMW High Performance only fleet. When the above models are added to the rest of the BMW Authorities range of specialist vehicles, such as medical and fire tenders, considerable savings through economies of scale can be made in training, tooling and parts.

BMW is unique in offering production line installed special equipment packages for Emergency Warning equipment which importantly can be supported by BMW Service Centres throughout the UK with a three-year BMW warranty. Ordinarily vehicles are built by manufacturers only to be disassembled for the retrospective installation of such equipment. The RESPoNSe (Responder EMERGENCY SERVICE Package official eNabled Systeme) package provides vehicles with a high-level of emergency service role-equipment pre installed allowing for a near ‘Plug & Play’ car, thus significantly reducing the time into service and the need for third-parties to start cutting into the vehicle’s wiring harness.

BMW operates a dedicated department with a team of specialists based at the BMW Group International – Special Sales Competence Centre. This specialist department is responsible for all BMW Authorities specification vehicles sold and operating as Emergency Service vehicles including cars, motorcycles, MINI and ballistically protected BMW Security and High Security cars.

[DR_E92]

I dare them to use a car with a N54 engine. Lets see how they like their fuel pumps going out!

[cyberkaa]

Haha, awesome. Hopefully this means some police-special parts and tuning. >:]

[c0nstant]

lucky

ass

cops

ugh

[06E90Rostik]

All N54 cars are being recalled, so all N54 jokes can stop now

[Boost Gomez]

Man, those look awesome.

[EDM92]

Queue fuel pump jokes now.

[E90SLAM]

Finally Top Gear can't really make fun of the UK police with Astra Diesel...

[hks786]

Guys, this isnt really news. I see these cars ALL the time.

Today I seen:

BMW X1 (yes new X1), X5, 3 series touring, BMW bikes, and a Ford Focus ST.

They always have top cars. I have already seen the new F10 5 series on the road! Their favourites are the E60 530d, X5 and 3 series touring. Actually once I seen them in a Range Rover undercover too. That is another point which is interesting. A lot of these vehicles arent marked like the E60 5 series. They have a lot of them undercover.

I dont know why BMW are publishing this information now because over here I have seen all these cars already. The only new one I havent seen is the E90 saloon pictured above. No doubt I'll see it around soon lol.

[E90SLAM]

Need to contact LTBMW and see if I can get some of those unmarked police vehicle parts...

[hks786]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

Need to contact LTBMW and see if I can get some of those unmarked police vehicle parts...

Lol. I actually think the E90 and the F10 look good in marked trim! Especially the E90 with black grilles, wheels and kit. Put it this way the X5 and E60 5 series dont stand out over here. They are so common. Not seen the saloon version of the E90 and only seen the F10 a few times.

I think the police have tuned the cars too especially being diesel models too would be easy to re-map etc. They also have latest laser speed camera equipment and tint measuring stuff. The other day they pulled my friend over to test his exhaust emissions because he has an aftermarket exhaust and they thought they might be able to catch him out.

[hks786]

Oh yeah, and nice to see that the govt. are making massive cuts hitting the poorest in the country yet the traffic police dept. can go out and buy the latest BMWs! Honestly after a year they get new models. The X5 isnt good enough so they get the facelifted model. E60 too old, get the F10 in! bastards...

[BimmerRob]

no m3?

[hks786]

Originally Posted by e92hobear

no m3?

Dont give them ideas! lol.

[Schm]

Oh shit it's the rozzers! Let the jokes begin!

Boy, cop's really are pricks, aren't they?
Cop shocks, cop brakes, cop fuel pumps?
Isn't it saying something about taxes in the UK when the police force has nicer cars than a majority of the population?

And so on. . .

[OdomPHD]

Well, it would be similar to alot of authorities in the US that drive Cadilacs (Marshals, FBI subdivisions, Secret Service, All Military brass get gov't Cadi's etc etc) but how in the hell could a country even more broke (GDP < Deficit) than the US afford to outfit ALL of their existing overpriced fleets with NEW MODEL luxury sport cars.. seriously.

Maybe I could see buying them used after a lease or something, perhaps where the vehicle has 20k miles and the police can form a special in house BMW mechanic for maintenence stuff. But paying top euro for a luxury car in this economy?? And people wonder why less people file income tax every year. Who wants to pay for this??...

[LemonOne]

no M3 = no force

[positiveions]

I thought the PM of Great Britain had announced an austerity plan last week. way to go to cut down on police forces

[Krystian_E46]

awesome i would enjoy being pulled over by one of those

[Deltari09]

Oh dear...M3?
I think the UK cops would be more busy chasing each other at 260KPH.

[Berduderunner]

Originally Posted by 06E90Rostik

All N54 cars are being recalled, so all N54 jokes can stop now

no they can definitely continue... this is just a move to appease the public, there is still no fix.

[Wolf]

They better put a plate on the front of the 5 because it looks like crap!