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Showing results for tags 'interceptor'.
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https://www.thedrive.com/news/42877/french-police-getting-alpine-a110-patrol-cars-for-rapid-intervention-duty "French Police Getting Alpine A110 Patrol Cars for ‘Rapid Intervention’ Duty The mid-engined sports cars will be used primarily for rural patrols. Police vehicles are normally fairly regular cars. Typically, four-door sedans and SUVs get outfitted with all the law enforcement gear, with plenty of room in the back to stow people in handcuffs. Every now and then, however, a police force lays its hands on something a bit special. The National Gendarmerie in France have done just that, ordering a fleet of Alpine A110 sports cars, as reported by Motor1. The National Gendarmerie is one of France's two national police forces, and is charged with the policing of smaller towns, rural, and suburban areas. The force will order 26 examples of the Alpine A110 Pure, as per a French-language press release from the Ministry of Interior. The vehicles will be used to "carry out interventions on the motorway involving high-speed offenders, as a part of road safety or other police missions." The Alpine A110 is a fine choice for an interceptor vehicle, combining deft handling with quick acceleration. Sporting a turbocharged 1.8-liter engine good for 249 horsepower, the A110 can accelerate to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds. It should prove more than capable of apprehending the average Peugeot hatchback that decides to make a dash for freedom. Unlike out-and-out supercars, the Alpine A110 is also relatively affordable, coming in at €58,400 Euros, or roughly $68,000 USD for a base model in France. Alpine's parent company Renault won the supply contract in an open tender, and the vehicles are to be customized by French vehicle conversion company Durisotti. Thus, police are probably paying a fair whack over the base retail price in order to get the cars fitted out as needed. The hot police car trope is a well-worn one at this point; some are merely for show, while others actually head out on patrol. Florida's Highway Patrol famously put a Mercury Marauder into service, while police in Japan have often found the Nissan GT-R to be a useful platform. More often than not, however, these vehicles primarily serve as a public relations tool rather than a day-to-day police vehicle. However, given that the National Gendarmerie have ordered 26 A110s, it seems more likely they'll be doing plenty of real work out and about in rural France. You'd want to be in something suitably quick if you're planning to drop a gear and disappear, but remember: you can't outrun a radio."