Holden Cruze on police patrol

VICTORIA Police will send a fleet of Holden Cruze sedans out on patrol from next month, joining law enforcers from Malaysia, Mexico and Russia who also use General Motors’ global small car to keep crime off the streets.

Fitted out with full police equipment, livery and lights, the Cruze SRi sedans will be used alongside other locally made sedans, SUVs, wagons and ute-based divvy vans that will be phased out following the end of Australian manufacturing in 2017.

Unlike the overwhelmingly large-engined Aussie-made alternatives, the Cruze – built alongside the Commodore at Elizabeth in South Australia – is powered by a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine that promises to save fuel while remaining nippy on urban streets.

Holden executive director of sales Peter Keley said the company was “very proud of our strong relationship with Victoria Police”.

“Cruze has all the attributes to make it an excellent patrol car. Its city-friendly size and power combined with its specific tuning for Australian roads ensures the police are in good hands,” he said. “We are very confident these Holden vehicles will perform extremely well.” The Victorian police deal is unlikely to arrest sliding Cruze sales across Australia, which are down 17.6 per cent to the end of August with 10,409 registered compared with 12,633 the same time last year – which was in turn down 27.1 per cent on 2013 figures.