The decision to end this partnership comes as BMW's International & Specialist Sales Division (ISSD), which handled bulk and special orders, including police vehicles, is closing "following a strategic change at BMW Group UK."
According to BMW, the high demand for its cars continues to outstrip supply, and it will therefore be prioritizing retail and corporate customers in the future. The move away from this specialized business model comes after an unfortunate incident involving the death of Police Constable Nicholas Dumphreys. Dumphreys, who was employed by the Cumbria Police, died in a BMW patrol car on the M6 highway on January 26, 2020.
An investigation into the accident revealed that a faulty crankshaft bearing broke loose, punctured the oil sump, and caused a fire. BMW had known about the N57 diesel engine flaw since 2014, and roughly five to seven crankshaft bearing failures were reported per month. In 2016, BMW UK reported the problem to BMW Germany, and Bimmer's engineers started conducting tests and found the cause to be insufficient lubrication and degraded engine oil.
BMW then sent out a service bulletin specifically for the UK police, which upgraded the recommended engine oil to 5W30 and dropped the oil change interval to 10,000 miles. However, it appears that the information was not passed on to the Cumbria Police, as they were not members of the National Association of Police Fleet Managers in the UK.
It's worth noting that the problem only affected police cars and not civilian vehicles. This is because the cars were used in a manner that put significant stress on the engines, including high-mileage, long periods of idling, and sudden acceleration. The UK police force is currently investigating whether it should switch to fully electric vehicles, but officers have raised concerns about the potential for fires with these types of cars as well.
Source: Carbuzz