Turning Japanese

In a move that will pain many patriotic frenchmen, especially the criminals, the Gendarmerie Nationale are to use Subaru Impreza WRXs for chase vehicles. French cars have been deemed too slow.

The Japanese car maker has won a key contract for fast intervention cars for the highway police. "We have a contract to supply 63 cars to the Gendarmerie Nationale for patrols on the roads," Subaru spokesman Gilles Varmoux said. "There was a tender for four-door, four-wheel drive cars that could go faster than 240 km per hour (149 mph) and had a reasonable price," he added.

The Scoobys will replace Peugeot's 306 S16 and the Renault Megane Coupe.

It's an embarassment for a country that is fiercely proud of it's national products. Industry insiders know that the only reason the Peugeot 607 exists at all is so that President Chirac doesn't have to turn up to Euro meetings in a Merc. That's why they've sold three.

The police forces are among the most faithful clients of the local car makers, but this time the French offerings were just too slow. "These new vehicles will allow the national police to fight the most serious and most dangerous road offences," the Gendarmerie Nationale, part of the defence ministry, said on its Website. It adds that 156 agents would be trained to drive the cars on the Bugatti racing circuit of Le Mans.

The cars are for the rapid intervention brigade (BRI) which previously had vehicles that could not go faster than 190 km per hour (118 mph). The BRI, spread over the country at 55 stations, will intervene only in case of a crime or serious offence when a driver has to be stopped immediately.

But officers equipped with the new vehicles are confident that on fast pursuits they'll still be passed by a rusting Citroen C15 floating along in the wrong lane whilst the impassive be-sandalled gallic driver puffs languidly on his pipe.