New Nissan black cab to be built in Coventry
The new Nissan NV200 London taxi is to be built by ADV Manufacturing in new Coventry plant
Nissan has announced ADV Manufacturing will be responsible for the final assembly of the NV200 London taxi at a dedicated new plant in Coventry. The two firms have invested around £6 million for the development of the new dedicated manufacturing facility.
• New black cab: full details on Nissan NV200 taxi
The petrol versions of NV200 taxi are set to hit the streets of London by the end of the year, with an all-electric variant to launch by 2015. The base vehicle is shipped from Nissan’s Barcelona factory where engineers at the Coventry plant will fit new bodywork, interior trim as well as tuning the suspension and steering.
Its boxy design was penned by Nissan’s European design centre in Paddington – the studio responsible for the for Juke and Qashqai. Nissan plans to produce around 140,000 NV200 taxis per year worldwide.
Petrol versions will be fitted with a 113bhp 1.6-litre engine, coupled with a CVT gearbox. Economy is claimed to be around 38mpg, with CO2 emissions of 179g/km – much improved over the stated 32mpg and 233g/km of the current 2.5-litre diesel TX4 London taxis. Nissan is still yet to announce any details of all-electric e-NV200 model but tech is likely to be adopted from the Nissan LEAF.
“We are pleased to be reinforcing once again our commitment to the British automotive industry,” said Andy Palmer, Chief Planning Officer and Executive Vice President at Nissan. “Our new Taxi for London is part of a wider, international taxi programme that forms a key part of Nissan’s global strategy, so we are naturally being very prudent in selecting our partners.”
