Dodge revives Charger as police sedan after Ford and Chevy abandoned segment

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Dodge displayed a Charger PPV prototype at the Police Fleet Expo in Daytona.

The new police Charger will reportedly come standard with all-wheel drive.

Ford and Chevy both abandoned the police sedan segment.

When the last Dodge Charger exited production, police lost a reliable tool. It was the last American-made police sedan available, Ford having abandoned the segment when the Taurus died in 2019 so it could chase SUVs instead. Now the Charger is on its way back.

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Dodge Law brought a Charger PPV prototype to this week’s Police Fleet Expo at Daytona International Speedway, and it looks great. The downside is that it probably won’t show up until late 2027 at the earliest. That’s a long time to wait for a car already wearing a light bar.

Read: This Guy Told Cops He Was Doing Nearly Twice The Speed Limit Because His Car Was Wet

Team One Network’s Public Safety Division spotted the prototype at the event, calling it the 2027 Dodge Charger PPV, short for Police Pursuit Vehicle . The group says all-wheel drive will be standard, which makes sense considering the previous Charger Pursuit was often ordered with AWD and agencies need patrol cars that work when the weather does not. The publicly available Charger also has a RWD mode, which police could also get.

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MoparInsiders had asked Chrysler/Dodge CEO Matt McAlear about the Charger’s police future at Roadkill Nights just a few days earlier, and he gave them a straight answer.

“It’s absolutely part of the plan,” McAlear told the outlet . “I met with the GSA (General Services Administration) and our fleet team a couple of weeks ago. So, they’re actively working with the California Highway Patrol and the Michigan State Police, two of the main bodies that help set the standards for what a pursuit model must be. So, we’re absolutely focused on it. It’s always taken a Charger to catch a Charger, and it’s not something we’re walking away from.”

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Hurricane Power Under The Hood

Dodge hasn’t published formal PPV specifications yet, so details remain limited. That said, this is clearly a Hurricane-powered 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged engine. In civilian R/T trim, that engine makes 420 hp (313 kW) and 468 lb-ft (635 Nm) of torque, while Dodge pairs it with an eight-speed automatic. Despite public outcry for a V8, both currently available Charger trims are quite athletic and capable.

Regardless of output upon production, they’ll be an upgrade in terms of performance over the older Charger PPV. Of course, police-spec vehicles aren’t simply civilian sedans with graphics, a cage, and a laptop mount. They need upgraded cooling, braking, electrics, idle durability, and enough room for radios, weapons racks, computers, and all the other gear that makes a patrol car a mobile office.

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Partitions, Dividers, And A Liftback Problem

The prototype already seems to address some of that. Its center console has been stripped back to create space for upfitting equipment, while a partition separates the front and rear seating areas. There’s also a divider behind the rear seat, which matters more than it might initially seem. The new Charger is a liftback, not a conventional trunked sedan, so Dodge has to keep detained passengers away from the cargo area and everything stored there.

Ford’s Explorer Police Interceptor Utility has effectively owned this space since the old Charger went away. A lower-slung AWD sedan with a healthy dose of turbocharged six-cylinder power could give agencies another legitimate choice. Now Dodge just needs to get it from Daytona to a fleet order guide.

Sources: Team One Network