New York City's iconic yellow taxis move a staggering 230 million passengers a year. That's 600,000 every day, or 25,000 an hour. It takes more than 1,300 individual taxis to pull this off. The amount organization, infrastructure, planning, and foresight involved in running an operation like this can't be overstated, but in the end, it all comes down to the vehicles themselves. If the taxis don't run, New York City doesn't run.
In 2007, the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission recognized that the current fleet of aging sedans would soon have to be replaced, and the "Taxi of Tomorrow" program was born.
A group of stakeholders, comprised of taxi drivers, owners, passengers, automotive designers, and everyday New Yorkers, were asked a simple question: What do you need from the next-generation New York City taxi?
The Answer: It needs to be efficient, reliable, safe, spacious, quick, clean, modern, maneuverable, compact, comfortable versatile, convenient, quiet, rugged, and easy to drive, among other things.
With this lengthy list of demands in hand, the Taxi Commission invited automakers from across the globe to compete for the honor of supplying NYC with its famous yellow cabs.
Nissan designers and engineers went straight to work, developing their own vision of the Taxi of Tomorrow. The result was the NV200, a vehicle that both draws on features from across Nissan's comprehensive range of fuel-efficient vehicles, and features dozens of innovative, creative solutions to the challenges a NYC taxi faces every day.
The competition lasted a grueling two years and featured impressive designs, vehicles and ideas from across the globe. When the dust finally settled, the NV200 was declared the Taxi of Tomorrow.
First taking to the streets in 2013, the North American-made NV200 will be the city's official, exclusive taxi for the following decade. New York's drivers, passengers, and pedestrians alike will all notice, and benefit from, the difference.
