New York City picks Nissan minivan as next taxi cab
 

Japan's Nissan Motor has won a contract to provide the next generation of New York's famous yellow taxis.

The deal, which is estimated to be worth $1bn (£607m) was announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The design will be based on Nissan's NV200 minivan model.

The van, which beat US carmaker Ford Motor and Turkish manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv for the 10-year contract, will be phased in starting in 2013.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged the Nissan NV200's boxy form evokes suburbia, but he said the yellow paint would give it the iconic New York touch.

The vehicle features an overhead window to offer views of city skyscrapers, and charging stations for mobile phones.

'Best fit'

"For the first time, we'll have a taxicab that wasn't 'off the rack', but rather custom-tailored to create the best fit for the drivers, owners and passengers of our city," Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said.

"People are going to fall in love with this taxi once they ride in it. It is going to represent New York City well."

The car will also feature satellite navigation, so passengers leaving the main Manhattan corridors will not have to contend with drivers who do not know their way around.

The Nissan was the most fuel-efficient and the cheapest of the three finalists, at about $29,000 (£17,608) per vehicle.

By 2017, Nissan will be able to manufacture the cars to run solely on electricity, New York City Hall said in a statement.

The bulk of the current fleet are Ford Crown Victorias, a car which only does about 12 miles per gallon, compared with 25 miles per gallon for the Nissan NV200.

New York's 13,000 yellow cabs carry about 600,000 passengers a day, and are the only vehicles permitted to pick up passengers off the street.

The NV200, which will be built in Nissan plants in Mexico, is the first to be designed specifically for use as a New York City taxi.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13276404

I wish they had Nissian 350z as taxis. Now that would be bad ass. I love my little car :pimp

How does that work exactly? The city has no private cab companies? Or the city is only allowing these vehicles to be licensed as taxis?

I think they should have taken the deal with Ford and tried to keep a bit of that 1billion in the country.

That would be a change...

ford should have stepped up with a product to beat the nissan one then. just because their american doesn't mean they should automatically get the deal

Way to fuck America over Bloomberg.

wondered the exact same thing...

I was really hoping that the Turkish company would have won the bid. They were going to build a plant in Brooklyn and offer 800 jobs to people here. Would have been good for our local economy.

We have the yellow cabs in NYC. They are the main cabs that you can hail on the side of the road. We also have livery cabs which are private companies that can use any cars they want but you need to telephone them to your location and they are not allowed to do on the street curbside pickups of passengers.

Time to sell my Nissan minivan.

The Department of Commerce or the State of New York should have stepped in on that one. I can see why the City of New York would have went for the best deal, but the State or Fed should have gotten involved.

so the yellow cabs are operated by NYC, kinda like the public buses are?

No, they are operated by the TLC. But its city "influenced"


Here is an article about it http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...ilt_taxis.html

The Ford model considered was made in Mexico. :disgust

pics? any?

click the BBC link for a pic of an ugly yellow van

in bc, we need ferries for the islands, so the ndp gov at the time decided to buy 'fast ferries' that were made in germany.

all the bells and whistles, smaller than we're used to but since it's 'faster', that wasn't important

turns out, the thrusters for these things are crazy powerful, and suck up the ocean floor.. dirt, logs, fish and sometimes birds lol.. i believe we just sold them off for scrap

it's a funny story for an example of 'cost savings'

they should have switched to some type of hybrid or alternative fuel

Nice job, A billion dollars to a Japanese company manufacturing in Mexico. Come on Americans get your shit together.

that's always been the norm. buy cheap sell high

so what do you want ? Mexican workers working in Mexico or Mexican workers coming to the USA illegally ? cause you need to face reality .. them not having jobs in Mexico also affects the USA :2 cents::thumbsup

WTF? A very large part of the US economy has always been tied to domestic auto production. It's a damn shame that we can't fill orders like that within our own boarders.

yeah but there is this thing called free market and capitalism .. two things the USA is very proud of ? :2 cents:

and it are these two principles that make New York choose Nissan .. and Nissan choose to manufacture their cars somewhere where it makes the most money

are you against the USA and what it stands for ? you sound like it :2 cents::helpme:warning:upsidedow

Living in brooklyn, so do I

Go troll someone else. You know the point I'm making.

http://i.imgur.com/Dgt61.png

:(:upsidedow

free markets are an illusion.

:disgust Unfortunate, but true. :disgust

Like the car, just dont make me try and get in n out of the backseat:1orglaugh

i think it's sad that New York will have japanese yellow cabs...

someone should have done a modern redesign of the Checker cabs with a super efficient diesel engine (like the VW TDIs) or hybrid

Don't blame NYC that America can't build a good car for a good price blame the unions for inflating the price and bringing down the quality.

Good thing "everyone" is doing their part to save the auto industry.

Yep.

I never understood why saving an auto industry is so important...
manufacturing is a 19th century concept, we are WAAAAAY past that...

And the debt clock runs a bit faster. :(

As if riding inside a NY cab wasn't toxic enough, now it will be downright radioactive :1orglaugh

We manufacture tube sites now.

:1orglaugh

New York taxi cabs are impressive. The communications systems inside taxi cabs are also impressive.