London Taxi

The range extender hybrid should enter production this year.

It's due to arrive at the end of the year.

The London Taxi Company is getting a major investment from its owner Geely. At a new factory in the UK, the company will build a plug-in hybrid cab to go on sale in 2017.

Emissions concerns in London are causing headaches for Nissan, as the company continues its efforts to bring its Black Cab to the city's streets. A proposed ultra-low emissions zone could lead to standards in the city center that are so strict the gas-powered taxi can't meet them, AutoExpress reports.

In most cities, just about any vehicle can serve as a taxi – so long as it meets the owner/operator's requirements for reliability, comfort and utility. But certain cities have their own unique taxis, and Nissan has been working hard to corner those markets. It has already designed specific taxis for such locations as New York, Barcelona and Tokyo, but its latest effort will bring a new Hackney Carriage to the streets of London.

Geely, the Chinese company that also owns Volvo, now owns Manganese Bronze Holdings (MBH), makers of London's Black Cab. MBH went into administration late last year, and some had looked to Geely to rescue the company in which it had a 19.7-percent equity stake. Although it's taken three months to strike a deal, and

The little black cab is to London what the yellow Ford Crown Victoria has been up to New York City. With the departure of Ford's Panther platform, Nissan has stepped in with its all-new NV200, which will soon be spreading like kudzu George Kennedy

No, this is not the screenplay for The Hangover Part III. But this story does demonstrate how brilliant ideas conceived at the bar with your buddies have a tendency to snowball out of control. In this case, a single, flippant thought (How high can a taxi meter go?), one that might have been resolved by Googling, led to a 50,000-mile excursion in an Jeff Sabatini

The recent Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention (EVCCON) hosted by EVTV appears to have been an unqualified success and plans are already afoot for next year's event. By all accounts, attendees were more than happy with an itinerary that included autocross and drag racing, numerous information sessions, along with an address by Chris Paine

Volkswagen London Taxi Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

The city of London hopes to have a fleet of zero emission fuel cell-powered taxicabs in service in time for the 2012 summer Olympic games. The first prototype, built by Lotus Engineering with a consortium of other companies, was unveiled yesterday at the city hall.

Renault-Nissan has reached an agreement with London's greentomatocars to work on bringing electric taxis to the UK capital. The Franco-Japanese alliance and the British hire-car company will be members of the Partnership for Zero-Emission-Mobility. The first stage of the partnership will establish a network of charging stations around London. After that, the automaker will supply battery-powered cars to for the greentomatocars fleet. greentomatocars

Click image to watch videos of this V8 London Cab after the jump

Aside from the traditional red double decker bus, the other iconic transportation image from London England is the classic black taxi. The purpose-built taxis have been use in London and other British cities for decades, trundling around powered by small noisy diesel engines. The current TX4 version is built by London Taxi International (LTI). LTI is partnering with Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering and TRW Conekt to build a test fleet of fuel cell powered L

Click image for a gallery of the Geely TX4 LTC

Launched three weeks ago by LTI Vehicles, the next generation of purpose-built London taxis, the TX4, is now available on Edinburgh streets. The TX4 looks like previous generation London taxis, but under the hood and inside the cab there have been some changes. Most interesting for us is the lower-emissions, Euro IV compliant VM turbodiesel Sebastian Blanco