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Marton Pettendy31 Oct 2018
NEWS

Queensland Police Stinger wows SEMA

Kia presents five wild drawcards at world’s biggest aftermarket show

Kia has demonstrated just how keen it is for its flagship sports sedan to patrol more highways around the world by unveiling its Queensland Police Stinger at today’s opening of the 2018 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.

The world’s first Kia Stinger police patrol car is already doing duty in Queensland and, soon, West Australia.

But the Kia Stinger is also a chance to replace traditional Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon highway police fleets in NSW, South Australia, the Northern Territory and, hopes Kia, other countries including the USA.

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Australia’s two largest police forces – NSW and Victoria -- have opted for BMW 5 Series and Chrysler 300 SRT vehicles, but there are more opportunities for the rear-drive Korean sports sedan in other Australian states and California -- home to North America’s largest state police force.

Kia Motors Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth said the world-first Stinger patrol car was presented at SEMA to gauge public and industry reaction.

“The Queensland Police Stinger is here at the request and expense of Kia Motors America and with the full co-operation of the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Government,” he said.

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Kia Motors America was keen to highlight the fact that apart from special equipment fitted by the Queensland Police Service such as radios and emergency lights, the Queensland Police Stinger is standard except for a plug-and-play wiring loom to accommodate police electronics.

"It's sometimes difficult to get into that [police patrol vehicle] market in the US, but what we're demonstrating here is you really don't need to do much to that car -- it's pretty much good to go in standard form," said KMA COO Michael Cole.

"It is a tough nut to crack but we've got a range of vehicles that are suitable for police work and there could be opportunities there, so we never say never."

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Kia has delivered the first two of 50 pursuit-ready Stinger highway patrol cars to hit Queensland this year, ahead of a further 22 next year, while the WA Police Force will take delivery of 50 in 2019.

That means at least 122 Stinger patrol cars have so far been confirmed, but motoring.com.au understands the South Australian police force is reassessing its deal with Holden to supply its imported ZB Commodore.

NT police are about to assess the Stinger and other vehicles for highway patrol duty and – despite doing deals with BMW and Chrysler – NSW police could also add the Stinger to its fleet of 5 Series and 300 SRT vehicles. No examples of the latter have yet been delivered.

Many state forces are already employing imported vehicles for general duties policing, including the Toyota Camry, Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe and, in Victoria, the Holden Colorado ‘divi’ van.

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The Kia Stinger will replace Queensland Police Service’s fleet of Commodore and Falcon patrol cars exclusively, and the first foreign cars to do police patrol duty in both the Sunshine State and WA are all powered by a 272kW/510Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6.

Matched as standard with launch control and an eight-speed automatic transmission, the rear-wheel drive Kia Stinger 330S is claimed to hit 100km/h in 4.9sec.

The Stinger 330S Stinger is normally priced from $49,990 and comes with a seven-year warranty and seven-year capped-price servicing, but police forces are likely to pay significantly less.

Both the Queensland and WA police forces said the Kia Stinger easily passed track evaluation, real-world operational assessment and, just as importantly, purchase price and maintenance cost considerations.

Giving it one of the largest presences of any car-maker at the world’s biggest automotive aftermarket show, the Queensland Police Stinger was just one of five sports and luxury vehicles displayed by Kia at SEMA.

Apart from a massive off-road course offering show-goers passenger rides in customised Telluride SUVs and Formula Drift cars, Kia produced a Forte (Cerato sedan) drift car built in partnership with Red Bull and powered by the Stinger’s biturbo V6.

Continuing the same ‘money can’t buy’ theme was a one-off Forte Federation concept kitted out with parts and accessories from leading aftermarket parts suppliers.

Aftermarket tuner DUB was also enlisted to create show-stopping concept versions of the Kia Stinger K900 (not sold in Australia).

Bringing everything back to reality, for North Americans at least, was the world debut of new Forte GT sports trims, which Kia said “bring athletic prowess direct from the factory to the show floor”.

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