Japan’s deadliest unmarked cop car

Nissan Skyline GT-R 40th Anniversary

Nissan’s Godzilla, the Skyline GT-R, was also a sports car that was used by many highway police units. And for the fourth-generation Skyline GT-R, a limited four-door model was also used by the police.

This special four-door Skyline GT-R was developed by Autech, Nissan’s special vehicle division, to commemorate Skyline’s 40th anniversary. Until the discontinuation in 1998, a total of 440 units were sold.

The Skyline GT-R 40th Anniversary was made into a four-door based on the two-door GT-R. Engines, drivetrains, and suspensions used were all the same as the normal GT-R but the rear fenders and doors were specially designed to provide wider tread.

Police forces also used this model both as a normal police cruiser and an unmarked vehicle mainly used on highways.

Suzuki Kizashi

Launched in 2009, the Kizashi was Suzuki’s first mid-size sedan equipped with a 188 hp 2.4-liter inline-4 engine. Its body dimensions are 4605 mm x 1820 mm x 1480 mm (181.3 in x 71.6 in x 58.2 in) and were a model that aimed not only at the Japanese market but also the European and North American market.

The car had a stylish exterior design and a comfortable ride achieved by its four-wheel independent suspension which repeated tests in Europe and North America.

But the car was not popular in Japan. One reason is the car being the most expensive Suzuki model at that time, which started from 2,787,750 yen. Another reason is that the Kizashi was a car that was built to order. These were the main factor for extremely low sales in its home market.

Although the Kizashi was rare due to its low sales, it was often used as an unmarked police vehicle, and is said that whenever you see a Kizashi, that car must be a police car. The contradiction is that an unmarked needs to act covertly, but a rare Kizashi makes it stand out.

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In areas where automakers have their headquarters or production bases, they have often donated their high-performance models to highway units of the local police force before, including Nissan Fairlady Z and Mazda RX-7 police cars.

And not only some Japanese high-performance models but also imports have been used before. The Tochigi Prefectural Police used to own a Ford Mustang Mach 1 and the Niigata Prefectural Police used to own a Porsche 911, both for highway patrol units.

Police vehicles used by highway units need to be high performance, but they also need to look intimidating, which limits the type of models that can be used.