You’d better get used to the idea of Nissan’s NV200 performing the cab duties that have traditionally been the responsibility of large sedans. With the NV200 already rolling out as the “Taxi of Tomorrow” in New York City, the company just unveiled a redesigned version that will go into production for use in London this December. Re-styled by London stylists, the new NV200 cab for London sports a riff on the classic black-cab styling unique to the city.
To make the NV200 into one of London’s iconic black cabs, Nissan’s Design Europe team redesigned the front end with round headlights and a restyled grille, as well as LED lighting in the “TAXI” sign on the roof and new front bumpers. The NV200’s compact-van body style is well-suited to cab duty, providing ample interior room as well as luggage space. Of course, the style was just as important as the utility. Darryl Scriven, Nissan’s Design Excellence Manager at Nissan Design Europe, said, “The main challenges were concerned with making sure customers can easily recognize it as a taxi. Being in London, we were able to go out and talk to cabbies about what was important to them as well as look at the vehicle from a customer’s viewpoint. It’s unusual for us to be able to work on something as bespoke as this, specifically for one location in the world and we are very proud to have been asked to do so.”
The London cab will be powered by a 1.6 liter gasoline engine with an automatic transmission, and it’ll be followed in 2015 by an electric version.
This is not Nissan’s first venture into the cab business in London. During the 1980s and 1990s, London cabs were powered by a 2.7 liter diesel engine sourced from Nissan.
The rest of the industry has taken notice. With the commercial-vehicle market wars heating up rapidly, Ford is already pushing the next-generation Transit Connect as a next-big-thing in taxis and livery vehicles as well.