NEW YORK, May 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. city with the largest taxi fleet -- New York -- Tuesday chose Nissan to design and supply the next-generation "taxis of tomorrow."
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission selected the Nissan NV200 as the exclusive taxi of New York beginning in late 2013, Nissan said in a release.
"Nissan is proud to provide the next generation of taxis for the City of New York," Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares said. "The NV200 taxi will give Nissan the opportunity to showcase our dedication to vehicle quality and urban mobility to more than 600,000 passengers every day."
The Nissan NV200 taxi will be produced at Nissan's facility in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and be a modified version of the vehicle currently available in markets such as Japan, Europe and China, the company said. The manufacturer suggested retail price of the vehicle will be around $29,000.
As part of the program, Nissan will work with the city and taxi owners on a pilot program to study the use of zero-emission, electric vehicles as taxis.
"The city's 'taxi of tomorrow' is the Nissan NV200 -- and it's going to be the safest, most comfortable and most convenient cab the city has ever had," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We started this process to leverage our taxi industry's purchasing power to get the highest quality taxi, one that that can expand and redefine the legendary image of New York City taxicabs."
The other two finalists included Ford Motor Co. and Karsan, a Turkish vehicle manufacturer.
