Road warriors will have a new hunter to watch for on the roadways in France. The next pursuit car is going be a blue French police Subaru Impreza WRX. Peugeot's 306 S16 and Renault's Megan Coupe are going to be replaced by the faster, equally cost-effective Japanese alternative. Subaru has overcome the desire to remain domestic with its decent value and performance, routing French contenders in the contract with the Gendarmerie Nationale.

"We have a contract to supply 63 cars to the Gendarmerie Nationale for patrols on the roads," Subaru spokesman Gilles Varmoux stated. "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.

Typically, the police force organizations in France have remained faithful to the domestic car manufacturers, but this time they literally failed to keep up with the pace. "These new vehicles will allow the national police to fight the most serious and most dangerous road offenses," the Gendarmerie Nationale said on its Website.

Over 150 agents are to be trained to drive the cars effectively on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans, located in western France. These cars will be a part of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BRI), which was previously only equipped with vehicles that were limited to 190km/hour (118 mph).