A new version of London's iconic black cab has been created by Nissan at its European design centre in Paddington.
The car maker has updated its original design from 2012 to be more traditional looking in response to feedback from the Mayor of London's office, Transport for London and other key organisations.
The changes include round headlamps, a re-modelled grille mirroring the traditional black cab ‘face’, improved visibility of the taxi sign and new front bumper panels.
Nissan's new NV200 will be launched in December this year and will be followed in 2015 by a zero emission electric powered version.
Darryl Scriven, Nissan's design excellence manager, said: "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."
Nissan, which also supplies taxis to New York, Barcelona and Tokyo, also intends to sell its NV200 London taxi commercially from December, out of a purpose-built showroom at Canary Wharf.
The Green Party this week welcomed the new petrol engine taxi as 'likely to reduce some of the harmful pollutants which impact on the health of Londoners' but expressed concern that the follow up electric powered taxi would not be supported with enough charging points when it debuts in 2015.
London Assembly member Jenny Jones said: "The Mayor needs to pull his finger out and deliver on his original promise of 25,000 charging points. Otherwise a great opportunity for reducing pollution in London will go to waste and the health of Londoners will suffer as a result."
