Kia Australia has issued a warning to crims in Queensland: 'From today you run the risk of feeling the sting of Queensland Police’s latest road safety weapon, the high-performance V6 Kia Stinger.'
After an extended evaluation period that stretches back to June, 2017, Queensland Police Service have selected the twin-turbo, rear-wheel drive Kia Stinger 330 V6 (GT Sport in New Zealand) as the replacement vehicle to the current Australian-built Holden and Ford fleet.
Before the end of the year, 50 Stingers will be sworn in to the Queensland Police Service and deployed across the state, each fitted with all the high-tech gadgetry need for modern policing.
Assistant Commissioner of Road Policing Command, Mike Keating, said the evaluation of the Korean-built Stinger was extensive and wide ranging.
“It started with the desktop evaluation, then a track performance evaluation and then the operational evaluation conducted in real-world conditions," said Keating.
“The final overall evaluation and review included the very important aspect of maintenance and cost. The Stinger performed very well in all areas and we had nothing but top reports from all the field officers.
Read more: Kia Stinger GT Sport road test
“The result is a road policing first for us, the first foreign car to perform these duties.”
When needed, Queensland Police will now call upon the Kia Stingers 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6, producing 272kW of power and 510Nm of torque which ,in stock trim, can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds.
Queensland Police Minister, Mark Ryan, said the decision to invest in Stingers for the Road Policing Command had not been a difficult one.
“It was not a big step at all once we had begun the investigation process,” said Ryan.
“Reading what the experts had to say, and seeing how efficiently the Stinger was changing minds and perceptions once people had been exposed to it … it was not a difficult decision.
Kia Motors Australia CEO, Damien Meredith, said the policing role for the Stinger was an excellent outcome for Kia and a watershed moment for the brand image.
“This level of public exposure and endorsement from a high profile government utility is something which wouldn’t have been on the radar just a few years ago,” Mr Meredith said. “It is just a beginning, but a very important one for us.”
Other police forces across Australia are continuing to evaluate the Stinger as well as other Kia models, such as Sorento, for various duties.
Queensland isn't the first state to switch from Ford or Holden. Police Highway Patrol in Victory announced they would replace their fleet with BMW 5 Series sedans in September, 2017.