London Banter - View Single Post - As expected, Geely buys London Taxi manufacturer

Recliner[_2_] · February 1st 13, 06:31 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
In article ,
(Recliner) wrote:

On Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:43:36 -0600, wrote:

In article ,
(Recliner) wrote:

To no-one's surprise, Geely has bought the remains of LTI from the
administrator. More surprisingly, they say they intend to resume
production in Coventry for the UK market; left-hand drive markets will
continue to be supplied from Shanghai. As before, I assume most of the
components assembled in the Coventry factory will continue to come
from China.

What will be more interesting is if Geely invests in creating a more
modern, fuel-efficient and non-polluting successor to the old low-tech
London cab, which now has Mercedes Vito competition, with Nissan's
cheaper contender just round the corner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-21290935

Their representative interviewed on Radio 4 before lunch (You and Yours?)
said they would be developing modern successor to the TX4. Not sure I
believed him.

Yes, I heard the interview and had the same reaction. I suspect that
he doesn't really know, as the development work would be approved and
happen in China, not Coventry. But I didn't think the hydrogen waffle
was very credible. LPG fuel seemed a better bet, but either way, I
don't think they'll be allowed to use diesel for much longer.

Is anything happening about electric taxis? Apart from Velotaxis
(electrically assisted pedal tricycles) that is.

I don't think they have a useful range, and also cost far too much.