The final version of London's black cab replacement has been unveiled by Japanese carmaker Nissan.
The new vehicle has been designed at the firm's European design centre in west London, and features a 1.6L petrol engine. It has environmentally friendly credentials, says Nissan, and will be much cleaner than current diesel-powered cabs.
Some might question why an all-electric or petrol-electric hybrid taxi was not built as the only option. An electric version, however, will follow in 2015.
Of course, without an extensive battery charging network, it would be difficult for thousands of electric London cabs to remain on the road – and might create a serious workload for breakdown cover providers. However, since replacing London's cabs is such a big job and will involve so many purchases of a new cab (there are 22,600 cabs in London, after all), one wonders if a large scale battery charging network would have in fact been possible.
Such a vast network may have even expedited the popularisation of electric cars among the public (and the government) – demonstrating how such a charging system would work.
But while the new London taxi may not be terribly ambitious in terms of how it is powered (the petrol version is likely to be most popular), it is at least a sleek, contemporary design that will sit well alongside the capital's new futuristic bus – which uses a hybrid drive system.
The new cab has been modified after feedback from the office of the Mayor of London, and complies with Transport for London regulations governing taxis – among which is the ability to perform a 25 foot turn.
According to Nissan, the 1.6 petrol model will deliver approximately 40mpg, which compares favourably to the most efficient TX4 (one of the most numerous diesel cabs currently on London’s streets) with its 35.3mpg combined cycle figure.
The new cab should be on sale by December.
Will it be as popular as the outgoing version? Let us know your thoughts below.
Breakdown Cover from 
