After the demise of the Ford Crown Victoria, Nissan may have secured the bid to produce the official taxi of New York City, but Ford’s not going to take that lying down. The truck and commercial vehicle expert has just unveiled a taxi modification for the new 2014 Transit Connect and hopes to appeal to livery companies in the rest of the country.
The Transit Connect has been redesigned for 2014, and Ford has put together a designated taxi conversion package with a lower vehicle floor and other taxi-specific modifications. The long wheelbase allows over sixty inches of rear-seat legroom. The driver benefit from a reverse camera, Ford’s SYNC with navigation, and the MyFord Touch voice-activated mobile communications system. The package has been designed to be easily modified for wheelchair accessibility, as well.
A 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine is standard, and the Transit Connect is also available with a compressed natural gas/liquefied petroleum gas conversion.
The new Transit Connect Taxi goes into production early in 2014.