The programme
What Michigan actually tests
Six sedans and nothing else in 1978. No sedan at all in 2026. Every vehicle in every test, by body type.
The argument about what happened to the American police car is usually made with anecdotes. It can be made with a count instead.
This is every vehicle Michigan has evaluated since 1978, sorted by what it physically was. Nothing is selected or weighted — it is simply what turned up.
Each bar is one year’s field. Hover or tap a block for the count. Missing years are books that have not been located, not years without a test.
The five moments
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1983 | The first two-door. A Mustang, because Ford could not sell a fast enough sedan |
| 1993 | The first sport utilities — two Jeep Cherokees in a field of twelve |
| 1997 | Sport utilities outnumber sedans for the first time, five to four. The following year Ford refused to let its own trucks lap the road course |
| 2005 | The first pickup |
| 2007 | The first motorcycles. Within two years there are five of them |
| 2025 | No police sedan of any kind, for the first time in the programme’s history |
The sedan does not decline gradually. It holds a majority until 2018, drops to four the next year, and is gone within six.
Every year, counted
Gold rows are years with no sedan at all. Shaded rows are years sport utilities outnumbered sedans.
| Year | Sedan | Two-door | Wagon | SUV | Pickup | Motorcycle | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | 6 |
| 1980 | 13 | – | – | – | – | – | 13 |
| 1981 | 13 | – | – | – | – | – | 13 |
| 1982 | 14 | – | – | – | – | – | 14 |
| 1983 | 17 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 18 |
| 1987 | 8 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 10 |
| 1988 | 6 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 8 |
| 1989 | 5 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 7 |
| 1993 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 12 |
| 1995 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 13 |
| 1996 | 6 | 2 | – | 3 | – | – | 11 |
| 1997 | 4 | 2 | – | 5 | – | – | 11 |
| 1998 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | – | – | 15 |
| 1999 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | – | – | 13 |
| 2000 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | – | – | 10 |
| 2001 | 3 | 2 | – | 3 | – | – | 8 |
| 2002 | 6 | 1 | – | 7 | – | – | 14 |
| 2003 | 3 | – | – | 6 | – | – | 9 |
| 2004 | 4 | – | – | 4 | – | – | 8 |
| 2005 | 4 | – | – | 5 | 1 | – | 10 |
| 2006 | 7 | – | – | 5 | – | – | 12 |
| 2007 | 8 | – | – | 7 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| 2008 | 9 | – | – | 6 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| 2009 | 6 | – | – | 2 | – | 5 | 13 |
| 2010 | 6 | – | – | 2 | – | 5 | 13 |
| 2011 | 8 | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 14 |
| 2012 | 15 | – | – | 4 | – | 6 | 25 |
| 2013 | 11 | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 17 |
| 2014 | 12 | – | – | 3 | – | 7 | 22 |
| 2015 | 10 | – | – | 4 | – | 7 | 21 |
| 2016 | 11 | – | – | 4 | – | 5 | 20 |
| 2017 | 9 | – | – | 4 | – | 6 | 19 |
| 2018 | 8 | – | – | 4 | 1 | 7 | 20 |
| 2019 | 4 | – | – | 7 | 1 | 7 | 19 |
| 2020 | 5 | – | – | 7 | 1 | 6 | 19 |
| 2025 | – | – | – | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 2026 | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
Three things the count shows that the story usually misses
The sport utility did not win in 1997. It outnumbered the sedan that year, and in 2000 and 2003, and then the sedan came back — 2012 has fifteen sedans against four sport utilities. Being present in numbers and being the vehicle departments actually bought were different things for twenty years.
The collapse is sudden, not gradual. Sedans are the majority of the field as late as 2018. The next year there are four. By 2025 there are none. That is not a long decline; it is a market leaving in about five years.
The field is not shrinking. Eighteen vehicles were tested in 2026, against six in 1978 and ten in 1987. Police vehicle testing is as busy as it has ever been — it is simply testing different things, and more kinds of them.