What vehicles do your public and emergency services typically use?

10 comments

1. I see a lot of Mercedes, VW and MAN, but some buses are Volvo and I believe I’ve seen Peugeot boxers used for ambulances.

2. For the police it’s Volvo, the most recent ones are the V90 CC, XC60. They have older Volvos and different VW and Mercedes-Benz, mostly SUVs from VW and Vans from Mercedes-Benz. There are some rare cars from random car manufacturers too.

   Ambulances are mostly of a modified XC90 Volvo. There are various ambulances from VW and Mercedes-Benz but Volvo is the most common in my experience at least.

   Firefighters pretty much only use Volvo or Scania. Some stations might have Iveco but I dunno how common they are today. They’d be rather old.

   Public transport in the regions vary coz public transport is a regional question here. My region strictly use Volvo buses. Both biogas, electric and petrol. We might also be only region in Sweden with [double deckers in public transport](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50215214887_c3508d3f0f_o.jpg)

   The conclusion. They buy mostly from Volvo AB and Volvo Cars both situated in Sweden and for firefighters the also buy from Scania another Swedish company

3. For ambulance usually it’s a Fiat Ducato or the Citroen equivalent (probably over 90% of ambulances), rarely a MB sprinter or a VW.

   For state police or Carabinieri it vary a lot, they have Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Alfa romeo Giulia, Jeep Renegade, Seat Ibiza, highway police also have some BMW and Skoda station wagons. In mountain areas they might have Subaru forester or the good old Defender. Fiat Punto is still common in smaller cities. As service vehicles (not patrol) they have vans like Fiat Ducato and Iveco Daily, and as service cars I’ve seen also some Panda.

   For municipal police (or local police) could be almost everything because every municipality can buy their own vehicle.

   Fire trucks are almost every brand available on the market such as Iveco, Scania, MAN, DAF, MB, Volvo, etc.
   They usually have also pick-ups or off roader like Ford ranger, Toyota Hilux or Land Rover Defender.

   All state-wide organisations must decide what to buy based on which company give them the best price according to their requirements, they can’t just decide which brand they want and order 1000 of them.

   In the past (until the 70s/80s) almost everything was from Italian brands such as Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Iveco.

4. In my area in northwestern Lower Saxony (homeland of VW) I see mostly these VW Passat Variant police cars:

   https://insideevs.de/photo/6044951/vw-passat-gte-variant-polizei-niedersachsen/

   Fire trucks and ambulances are more diverse, especially the latter.

   Example fire truck: https://www.feuerwehr.niedersachsen.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/08/Erkl%C3%A4rung-FW-Fahrzeuge-2-LF-10-klein.jpg

   Examples ambulance:
   https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyvqeQTWoAQ7HdG?format=jpg&name=large

   https://files.bos-fahrzeuge.info/vehicles/photos/d/d/f/6/457476-large.jpg

   https://www.rettungsdienst-wesermarsch.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/rtw-1-2-e1592739038517.jpeg

   And of course Deutsche Bahn 😆:

   https://files.bos-fahrzeuge.info/vehicles/photos/6/5/7/4/562993-large.jpg

5. The police use Škoda, almost exclusively Octavias, even when they want to be undercover, they use black Škodas with tinted windows and black rims on wheels, which nobody else uses..

   Those pesky wannabe policemen who give parking tickets drive Fiat Pandas, Citroen Berlingos, VW Polos, Golfs, etc.. White paint with maroon markings.

   Firemen use different brands I think.. Man, Daf, Mercedes.. idk

   Ambulance, I think its often a VW van, but it varies as well.

6. Each police zone can choose its own vehicles so vehicle types, makes and models can vary greatly, although German brands seem to be preferred. I’ve yet to see a Hyundai or a Kia as a police car, for instance. The only car that is ubiquitous everywhere is the VW transporter (“combi”). Motorcycles are almost exclusively BMW, I believe they’re special police-only models.

   Ambulances are pretty much all Mercedes Sprinter. May or may not feature a cuboid patient compartment.

   For fire services it depends on the area somewhat; e.g. the local fire department has several forest fire vehicles because of the proximity of large amounts of heathland that is prone to catch fire in summer and/or during military training operations. Scania, Volvo, Mercedes and MAN are popular firetruck brands, with Magirus usually providing the cranes.

7. Police:

   The normal cars and vans are Mercedes. For situations where fast cars are required they use Audi A6. Until 1996 police Porsches were a common sight on the Dutch highways

   Ambulance:

   Mercedes

   Fire department:

   Mercedes, Scania, DAF, MAN, Volvo

8. Police primarily use VW Passat, Touran or Transporter for patrol cars. There are a few Mercedes-Benz C-classes as well. For non-patrol vehicles they use Fords and Volvos as well, and for unmarked cars, they use pretty much any brand, although most commonly I think would be the VW Passat.

   Ambulances are usually Mercedes-Benz Sprinter or MAN TGE, at least from what I’ve seen. But I think this differs from area to area.

9. Police, depends on the force and what deal they can get; there’s no loyalty to a particular marque. High-powered cars tend to be BMW but for regular patrols you’ll see everything from a Ford Fiesta to a Hyundai i30.

10. Police cars are almost always VW. Either transporter or passat. There are Mercs and Skodas too. Ambulance is almost always MB sprinter.