Here, finally, is Ford's replacement for its ancient Crown Victoria-based police Interceptor. And, as we predicted last October, the new cop car is based on a Taurus sedan.

We have no intent of the specific ungrades and changes Ford has prefabricated to the Taurus for its new role, but it's probably clean to adopt that the EcoBoosted V6 will at least be offered along with all-wheel drive.

Ford will officially unveil the thing in Las Vegas today to, well, cops. The Taurus-based cop car will have to compete against the Dodge Charger cruiser, which looks good and is plenty fast with the acquirable Hemi, and the Chevrolet Caprice, another rear-driver which is pretty much a Pontiac G8 in all but study (and civilian availability). And no, this is not the first time Ford has tried to sell a police-package Taurus. The company tried convincing cops of the value of a V6, front-drive interceptor beginning back in 1990.