Nissan has unveiled the new face of its NV200 Taxi for London, with a redesigned face to distinguish it from the standard van.

Nissan’s newly-redesigned taxi has been developed for London, in London, by Nissan Design Europe in Paddington, the same design centre responsible for the Qashqai and Juke. The new taxi will be launched in December 2014 with a 1.6-litre petrol engine equipped with an automatic gearbox. Compared to current diesel London taxis, Nissan claim the engine will be far cleaner, with lower levels of NOx and particulates.

Nissan will also launch a zero emission electric version of the NV200 taxi in 2015.

The London-specific variant has round headlamps and a re-modelled grille mirroring the traditional black cab ‘face’, LED lighting to improve visibility of the traditional taxi sign, and a new front bumper design.

Design excellence manager Darryl Scriven said: “Having already overcome the unique technical challenges presented by the development of a new Hackney Carriage for London ahead of our launch of the vehicle in August 2012, we turned our attention to making the vehicle look the part.

“The Mayor’s office and taxi drivers were very keen that we maintain the character of the Hackney Carriage, making it something that people in the city can be proud of.

“The main challenges were concerned with making sure customers can easily recognise 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.”

Andy Palmer, chief planning officer and executive vice president, Nissan Motor Corporation, said: “Since we launched our Taxi for London in August 2012, we have worked closely with the Mayor’s office and associated stakeholders and interested parties to ensure that Nissan’s new cab not only raises the bar for both driver and passenger, but is also as instantly-recognisable as its legendary forebears.

“Alongside this, our engineers at Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, have continued work on the cab, running real-world trials on the streets of London.”

Nissan franchised dealer group, Glyn Hopkin, has been appointed as the solus retailer to sell the Nissan NV200 Taxi for London from a purpose-built, ultra-modern showroom facility to be based in Canary Wharf.

The vehicle will go on sale in the Capital in December 2014.

 

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