New York is hailing a new era of urban mobility, as the city has selected Nissan to design and supply the next-generation “Taxi of Tomorrow”, beating out other finalists Ford and Karsan.
“The city’s Taxi of Tomorrow is the Nissan NV 200 — and it’s going to be the safest, most comfortable and most convenient cab the city has ever had,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We started this process to leverage our taxi industry’s purchasing power to get the highest quality taxi, one that that can expand and redefine the legendary image of New York City taxicabs. The new taxis will be custom-designed to meet the specific demands of carrying 600,000 passengers a day in New York City traffic and the vehicle meets the top priorities identified by the public in our on-line survey.”
The Nissan NV200 features a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder powertrain, ample room for four passengers and their luggage, transparent roof panel to take in the view, sliding doors, and a low-annoyance horn.
With more than 13,000 taxis traveling a cumulative 500 million miles per year, durability was a key factor in the “Taxi of Tomorrow” selection process. Nissan will train taxi fleet operators to conduct routine in-house service and repairs, and Nissan Commercial Vehicle dealers will provide the first available service bay to taxi operators needing a service.
The Nissan NV200 taxi will be produced at Nissan’s facility in Mexico, a modified version of the compact commercial vehicle currently available in global markets.