In 2007 New York City realized it had a big problem. The city’s over 1,300 taxis were aging and would need to be retired in the near future. The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission created the “Taxi of Tomorrow” program and met with passengers, taxi drivers, automotive manufacturers and other interested parties to find the next generation of the taxi. Competing with ideas from around the globe, the Nissan NV200 Taxi stood above the rest. Beginning April 20 the program will officially start and most of the NYC taxis replaced by Nissan NV200 taxis will be retired.
Over 230 million passengers are transported a year in the city, which is 25,000 people an hour, and the “Taxi of Tomorrow” needed to be fuel-efficient, reliable and could stand up to the harsh driving conditions of New York City. To create a competitive vehicle, Nissan created its own busiest New York City street – New York Avenue – at its Arizona location to test the Nissan NV200 Taxi. With help from New York City cab drivers to test the NV200 Taxi, Nissan gathered information to improve the vehicle and logged so many miles that every street in Manhattan could have been covered more than 300 times.
Since the NV200 Taxi joined the fleet in 2013, there are now over 500 NV200 Taxis in service in New York City. To further prepare the NV200 Taxi Nissan is partnering with BraunAbility to make the NV200 Taxi wheelchair accessible. BraunAbility is the leader in automotive mobility and the additions to the NV200 Taxis will significantly increase the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles in the city’s taxi fleet.
What maybe makes the NV200 Taxi stand out the most is its size. Compared with traditional sedan-type taxis, the NV200 Taxi sits on a shorter wheelbase and the result is a vehicle that is larger on the inside. The NV200 Taxi has plenty of cargo space, room for up to four passengers and is the only taxi to be crash tested and certified with the center partition in place. Thanks to a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine the NV200 Taxi moves nimbly through narrow streets and Nissan estimates the NV200 Taxi will open up five acres of space on city streets due to its compact size.
It’s clear Nissan really goes the extra mile for its customers. Quite literally! Interested in a NV200 but need the cargo space instead of room for passengers? We have a great selection of Nissan NV200 Compact Cargo vehicles to choose from. Experience firsthand the slick handling of the NV200 with a test drive! Call, stop by today, or schedule online. We look forward to seeing you soon here at Matt Castrucci Nissan!
