New York City Taxis Have New Look Starting in 2013

The new breed of NYC taxis.

In two years the current fleet of New York City taxis will start to be replaced by the Nissan NV200,  Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week. He added that all current taxis will be off the streets by 2018. The Nissan van beat out submissions from the Ford Motor Co. and Turkey's Karsan. The anchor of the current fleet of more than 13,200 taxis is the Crown Victoria which has been discontinued by Ford.

The minivan which won the two-year "Taxi of Tomorrow" competition features:
- Overhead window to give passengers a view above.
- Onboard outlets and charging stations.
- Fuel efficiency at 25 miles per gallon (compared to 12-13 miles per gallon for the Crown Victoria).
- Cheapest among the three finalists at a cost of $29,000 (and an anticipated $1 billion in total sales).
- Airbags & crash testing.
- Doors that slide sideways.
- GPS systems.
- An option for taxi owners to buy a wheelchair-accessible version (Bloomberg said that a new program would allow riders in wheelchairs to call for properly equipped vehicles).

The three finalists.

Nissan reports that 70 percent of its vehicles are sold in the US and plans to manufacture the taxi van in Mexico with final touches completed at a NYC-area facility. The city is exploring a possibility of replacing the entire fleet of taxis with vehicles powered by electricity.

London taxi drivers go through a rigorous qualification process to operate one its signature black cabs. Perhaps the next step in improving the NYC taxi system is the driver qualification process.

Vehicle interior (all images: New York Taxi and Limousine Commission)