Keep your eyes peeled for this police car in your rear view mirror – the Ford Interceptor, which is a completely badass upgrade from the out-of-date Crown Victoria. Ford debuted its new model last Friday and will soon be rolling these babies off the line and into the hands of police officers all over the country. The Interceptor is based on the Ford Taurus, but designed especially for cops with new safety features and is 25% more fuel efficient.

The new Ford Interceptor will completely replace the Crown Victoria, which has been in production specifically for use by the police since 1950 and hasn’t seen a redesign in over 15 years. Using the Ford Taurus as a starting point, Ford updated the car with new safety features like a side-curtain air bag rollover protection system to help in rollovers and crashes. The interior is completely outfitted and styled will important gadgets and gizmos a cop needs to work the beat, as well as flexibility so the departments can install the equipment they need.

More importantly though, the new police cruiser will be noticeably more fuel-efficient, up to 25% more fuel efficient. The cruiser is built with a V6 engine that actually has more hp and torque than the old V8 Crown Vic. With two powertrain options – a standard 3.5 Liter as well as a twin turbo Ecoboost, the Interceptor will have better performance than the Crown Vic, which is a 4.6 L Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) V-8. Also, the new cruiser will be flex fuel, E85 compatibility, just in case we develop a cleaner source for ethanol. Now if only we could convince cops to stop idling the cars when they’re sitting there taking a nap.

Via Treehugger and Jalopnik