Nissan NV200 wants to be next London Taxi

Good news or bad, but folks in London will shortly see their iconic “black cab” facing some stiff competition from the Japanese auto giant Nissan, in the form of the Nissan NV200 London Taxi.

Already being hailed as the official cab for the cities of Tokyo and New York, the Nissan NV200 has been specifically configured to meet the stringent regulations for taxicabs in London. The disabled-friendly NV200 will be propelled by a 1.5-litre turbocharged diesel engine, and will boast spacious seating for five, besides offering creature comforts including a panoramic roof, anti-bacterial interior materials, and USB charging ports. Competing with the TX4 taxicab, the latest model from the London Taxi Company, the NV200 is claimed to be about twice as fuel-efficient while keeping the emissions twice as lower.

Claimed to be significantly cheaper to buy and run, the Nissan NV200 will be seen taking charge of the streets in London by 2014, in its “black cab” livery, serving several hundreds of thousands of commuters in the region. With a competitive taxicab offering and a fully electric variant on the charts, Nissan’s extent of success in changing the face of London’s cab heritage remains to be seen.