Why PDRM chose Toyota Corolla Altis as police cars instead of Proton models?

The Royal Malaysian Police’s (PDRM) aging fleet of Proton Wira and Proton Waja models will be replaced in stages by 425 units of Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8E. The newer Proton Preve and Proton Inspira police cars however, will continue to remain in service.

Curiously, it is not UMW Toyota Motor, the authorised importer and distributor of Toyota vehicles in the country that will be supplying the vehicles. Instead, the fleet of Toyota Corolla Altis will be supplied by Go Auto Sales Sdn. Bhd., the importer and distributor of Chinese brand Haval vehicles.

Even more curious is the fact that the Toyota Corolla Altis is imported from Thailand, a departure from the government’s usual practice of purchasing locally-assembled models.

Go Auto Sales has been appointed by the government to procure vehicles for PDRM ‘s use. The vehicles will of course, be purchased from UMW Toyota Motor.

Go Auto Sales will supply the Toyota Corolla Altis police cars with five years free service as well as the necessary accessories like police specifications light and sound system, fleet management system, and radio communication equipment.

Why a Toyota Corolla Altis?

PDRM’s requirement is to have a C-segment sedan. The Proton Preve is no longer in production so supporting a local car is no long possible.

Another requirement is that the police cars must have a conventional handbrake (as opposed to electric parking brake or foot operated parking brake), probably because advance police driver training require handbrake turns? We are not too sure. This rules out the locally-assembled Honda Civic, which uses a push-button electric parking brake to save space.

The only other alternative is the Hyundai Elantra. The Kia Forte on sale here is the older generation model. Against this limited option, the Toyota Corolla Altis is clearly the best of the lot, even though it's imported from Thailand. But that's less of an issue since government vehicles are exempted from paying taxes. 

The first 100 units of the new Toyota Corolla Altis police cars will go into service ahead of November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2020 summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Other models in PDRM’s fleet include the Mitsubishi Outlander, Volkswagen Tiguan, and Volvo XC90, these are mostly used for escort or highway patrol duties rather than regular policing work.