The manufacturers
Every manufacturer Michigan has tested
Twenty-two of them, from the three that built almost everything to the ones that turned up once and never came back.
Three manufacturers account for five hundred and nine of the six hundred and fifty-six vehicles in this archive. The other nineteen share what is left.
Some of those nineteen are more interesting than their record counts suggest.
All of them
Gold rows have their own page. Shaded rows are motorcycle manufacturers, covered together on the motorcycles page. Every other name links to that maker’s entries in the results table.
| Manufacturer | Entries | Years | Span | Fastest recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | 215 | 48 | 1978–2026 | 150 mph2013 |
| Chevrolet | 193 | 48 | 1978–2026 | 160 mph2000 |
| Dodge | 103 | 36 | 1978–2026 | 152 mph2012 |
| Harley-Davidson | 40 | 18 | 2007–2026 | 119 mph2026 |
| BMW | 27 | 18 | 2007–2026 | 141 mph2015 |
| Plymouth | 23 | 11 | 1978–1989 | 132.7 mph1978 |
| Jeep | 15 | 10 | 1992–2001 | 115 mph1993 |
| Volvo | 7 | 4 | 1997–2000 | 153 mph2000 |
| Moto Guzzi | 4 | 2 | 2014–2015 | 129 mph2014 |
| Victory | 4 | 3 | 2012–2014 | 120 mph2012 |
| AM General | 3 | 3 | 2001–2003 | 88 mph2001 |
| Buick | 3 | 3 | 1978–1981 | 113.1 mph1980 |
| Can-Am | 3 | 3 | 2015–2017 | 121 mph2016 |
| Chrysler | 2 | 1 | 1981 | 114.7 mph1981 |
| Yamaha | 4 | 4 | 2018–2022 | 147 mph2020 |
| Zero | 3 | 3 | 2016–2018 | 102 mph2018 |
| Buell | 2 | 2 | 2009–2010 | 108 mph2010 |
| Kawasaki | 2 | 2 | 2011–2012 | 131 mph2011 |
| Subaru | 2 | 1 | 1998 | 112 mph1998 |
| Honda | 1 | 1 | 2026 | 119 mph2026 |
| Pontiac | 1 | 1 | 1978 | 110.2 mph1978 |
| Ram | 1 | 1 | 2026 | 103 mph2026 |
The three that matter
| Manufacturer | The story |
|---|---|
| Ford | Present every year. Its fastest vehicle was a sedan, then a Mustang, and has been a sport utility since 2019. Its last police sedan, the Police Responder Hybrid, was tested in 2020; the Police Interceptor sedan’s last test was in 2018 |
| Chevrolet | Also present every year — and it twice dropped the police sedan with the best top speed in these books to that point. In twelve straight tests, 1991 to 2002, its quickest entry was a Camaro |
| Dodge | Absent from the published results for twelve years. The December 2002 bulletin calls the 2002 Intrepid the first police-package sedan DaimlerChrysler had entered “in the MSP tests since the Dodge Diplomat in 1989”; the Charger followed in 2006 |
Two entries in this table that surprise people
Volvo recorded 153 mph in 2000. Seven entries across four years, 1997 to 2000, and that figure is faster than every Ford and every Dodge tested here. Only some Camaros and the 6.0-litre Caprices of 2012 to 2017 went faster, and the 2012 E85 6.0 matched it.
The AM General Hummer never beat 88 mph. Three entries between 2001 and 2003, at 88, 83 and 85 mph: the three lowest top speeds in the archive. The 2003 bulletin lists it as a police-package vehicle, and it is a reminder that “police vehicle” once covered a very wide range.
A Volvo sedan was faster round Michigan than anything Ford or Dodge ever brought.
The ones that came once
Pontiac has a single entry, in 1978. Honda and Ram have one each, both in 2026. Subaru brought two vehicles to 1998 and never returned.
Those single entries are worth keeping in the table rather than tidying away. Honda and Ram are in the latest book held, so whether either returns is not yet known.
Motorcycles are a separate market
Ten of the twenty-two manufacturers here are represented only by motorcycles, and between them they hold ninety entries — thirteen fewer than Dodge. Harley-Davidson alone has more entries than any vehicle maker except Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge.
They are covered together rather than one page each, because the interesting thing about them is that they are all measured against each other, and against the cars, by the same procedure — and they beat the cars on four measures out of five.