Watch out, crims: Australian police now have Kia Stingers

Behold, the first non-Australian car to police Queensland streets. It’s a Kia Stinger GT S, and it probably couldn’t be much better suited to the job.

The Australian car industry has dwindled in recent years, and its two big home-grown saloons – the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore – are no longer produced. Which is a pain for police forces who’ve relied entirely on these slightly overpowered rear-wheel-drive saloons for the past few decades.

Happily, Kia’s bombastic new Stinger GT S just so happens to be a slightly overpowered rear-wheel-drive saloon, too, making it the perfect substitute. Its twin-turbo V6 produces 365bhp and hits 62mph in sub five seconds, enough to catch most miscreants, we’d think. The Queensland Police Service has initially bought 50, but up to 200 could be put into service.

“The Stinger performed very well in all areas and we had nothing but top reports from all the field officers,” Queenland Police’s Mike Keating told news.com.au. Whether those “top reports” had anything to do with how willingly the Stinger smears black lines on tarmac is unconfirmed. Either way, crims of north east Australia better watch out; your local police have a new type of Stinger to deploy…