If you cast your mind waaaay back to August 2012, you might distantly remember a story we brought you about how Nissan had redesigned the humble London taxi for the 21st century.
Nissan's take on the black cab, the NV200, was designed to meet the needs of London's cabbies, fulfilling a strict range of criteria which, amongst other things, includes having a 25ft turning circle (allowing the vehicle to navigate the extremely tight roundabout outside the Savoy hotel).
All-in-all, the NV200 looked to be a fairly convincing successor to the traditional black cab; its only weakness was arguably the way it looked. While the existing London taxi is as British as a Beefeater drinking a pint of mild in a red phone box, the NV200 just looked like a Japanese people carrier.
Now, however, Nissan has been back to the drawing board and has redesigned the taxi to, in its own words, "better reflect the iconic nature of the traditional black cab."
Nissan has responded to feedback from the London Mayor's office, Transport for London and a range of other organisations in designing the new vehicle, giving the new car round headlamps, a new grille and a new LED taxi sign, which will allow potential passengers to see whether or not the taxi light is on more easily.
Despite its Japanese origins, the taxi was designed at Nissan Design Europe in Paddington, the same design centre responsible for the Qashqai and the Juke.
Design Excellence Manager at the Nissan Design Centre, Darryl Scriven, 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."
The NV200 will be launched in December with a new 1.6-litre petrol engine mated to an automatic gearbox. A zero-emission EV version will be launched next year.
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