The Dodge Charger Police Car Is The Fastest American Police Car Ever says Chrysler, who says that both AWD and RWD versions of the Charger hold the record for fastest lap times at the Michigan State Police's Police Vehicle Evaluation race.

The Charger AWD clocked a lap time of 1:33.85, making it the second car tested to get a time less than 1:34. The other car? The Charger RWD, which holds the record at 1:33.70. Good news for Chrysler, but here's why you should care.

Law-enforcement vehicles are big business for the Detroit automakers. The Ford Crown Victoria was the best-selling model for the last decade. But while the Crown Vic ruled, more agencies needed more space for more equipment as times changed, so sales of police SUVs began to increase. All automakers can claim those sales in overall numbers, so if you see a headline like "The Ford Taurus outsold the Chevrolet Impala two to one this month," then it probably meant someone bought a shitload of Tauruses for their police department.

Now that the Crown Vic is gone, it's anyone's game. GM has introduced the Caprice as a separate model specifically for law-enforcement agencies and to not inflate Impala sales numbers any longer. Ford has the Taurus, which I've seen popping up more and more around Detroit lately.

But Chrysler's looking for the upper hand with the Charger, which is the only one to come in RWD and AWD. The Taurus has an AWD option, but its base is FWD. And the Caprice comes in RWD only. It's been said that officers prefer RWD, hence why so many were in mourning over the Crown Vic.

So now that Chrysler has another marketing talking point to sell to agencies, you should probably get used to seeing the Charger headlights in your rearview.