Does London have a Taxi and Limousine Commissioner? I have no idea, but New York does and he’s called David Yassky. This man, along with Mayor Micheal Bloomberg, have recently decided which taxi will replace the famous Ford Crown Victoria. After beating off stiff competition from Ford and Turkish car maker Karsan Otomotiv, the Nissan NV200 minivan has won the one billion dollar, 10-year contract.
My own first impressions are that it looks a little tame to be a New York cab. New York is the city where countless movies have and will be made, with the iconic yellow taxi-cab always being part of the back-drop: the new Nissan, however, looks like something reliable and well-built your grandparents might take out on a Sunday afternoon. Sure, its drivers probably won’t have to rely on their car breakdown cover very often, but the car won’t win any beauty contests either.
Remarkably, the Nissan NV200 will be the first time a car has been developed specifically for the city. London, with its unique and iconic black taxi cabs, has enjoyed its own design for decades.
While the NV200 may call for a few special effects in order to blend in to the New York background in future movies, the car has many practical benefits, for both the driver and the passenger. Mobile phone re-charging docks will be available inside the cab, and a glass roof will ensure lovers of New York’s splendid skyline will have their view completely unobstructed. In terms of miles-to-the-gallon, the new NV200 will also do twice what the Ford Crown Victoria can do (25 miles compared to just 12 at present).
And to top it all off, Nissan says it will be able to manufacture the cars to run solely on electricity by 2017.
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