In message , Andrew Heenan
writes
"Mike Hughes" wrote ...
As far as the Merc is concerned I am reserving my judgement as there are
several items which have mechanical or electronic operation (electric
step, electric doors, rear steering) which have not seen heavy duty yet. I
always have this fear that mechanical things can go wrong and the ore
complicated they are the more time and money they take to repair.

Fair comment.
How do you feel about the 'fact' of competition?

I welcome competition as this should bring a better level of customer
service to the trade - it certainly did when Metrocab brought out the
TTT as it resulted in the Nissan engined FX4 driver which some claim was
the best London taxi ever (obviously pre- Euro 3 emissions regs)

Does it look like the first of several?

Hard to say. There have been rumours that a Hybrid car, based upon the
Metrocab was due to come out, but that has now died down. LTI have
(had?) a couple of 'concept' electric cars in the pipeline but these
have a limited range (100 miles) and a top speed of about 50 mph which
is no good for going along the M4 to Heathrow. They are alo supposed to
be developing some Hyrogen fuel cell based vehicles in time forthe 2012
Olympics. Whether the present economic situation will change this
remains to be seen

Will it force a more realistic price for TXs?

Hard to say. LTI (well the parent company MBH) have signed a deal with
Geely in China. This means that production of 4000 at Coventry will be
increased to 40,000 in China. The Chinese built vehicles will be sold in
China and Asia by Geely while LTI will sell them elsewhere in the world.

It was claimed that production will continue in Coventry but it was
hoped that Chinese made parts would help keep prices down

In the past, they've always managed to re-assert the monopoly pretty
quickly - but will Merceded hang in there?

The only reason that the TX has a monopoly is because alternative
vehicles simply were not bought in enough volume to make a profit. That
was frequently because they had more problems that the FX/TX range.
Whether the Merc will be able to continue remains to be seen

And finally, what's the uptake on the Mercs been like?

They hope to have 150 in service by the end of Jan

(that'll teach you admit you have good sources!)

No problems I just hate to see misinformation which is why I chose to
write for Taxi talk magazine

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/