Possibly one the most enduring symbols of London, the Hackney Carriage, has been given a face lift… and in our view not for the better. The new model looks to us like a Transit van more suited to carrying parcels for DHL than an icon of Britishness to be printed on millions of postcards. It is also to be made by Nissan in Spain.
What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment below.
Truly dreadful design; as you say, looks like a transit van.
Very awful.
I prefer the metrocab model !!!!
UGLY!
It’s a delivery or funeral parlour van. Terrible looking thing. We should be keeping London special for us and to bring in the tourists.
A lot of funeral ambulances are just black vans though. Personally I think that most of the Peugeot or Citroen van derived taxis are ugly but the choice is down to the cabbie. Luckily the traditional black cab is by far the most practical vehicle to use as a cab in ‘the smoke’.
UGLY! it’s not a hackney carriage.. it’s a van. But the city will continue to pursue higher emissions (and safety) standards, and if there is no alternative the old cabs will be forced out. They are too heavy, noisy and dirty for the future.
Nostalgia is not worth much against environmental and safety progress.
This is only Nissan’s alternative to the currently available London Cabs. It hasn’t yet been released and, hopefully, once it is cabbies buying new cabs won’t choose this ugly looking monstrosity!
Of course, Nissan hope intend to release a fully electric version (not sure how practical that will be for the driver) which I’m sure Boris will love!
As I’m browsing this site with Mr Tumble in the background I thought I’d try and buy a black cab. Most new black cabs aren’t made in the UK. Most appear to be Peugeots or Citroens although if I were a taxi driver I think I d choose the new VW Caddie derived taxi. If I were a London Black Cab driver I’d have to choose the Coventry made traditional Black Cab – http://www.london-taxis.co.uk/home – although the parent company is Chinese!
Thinking about this laterally; if you’re a cabbie and your livelihood depends on your cab you’d have to buy the most reliable unit you can afford whether British made or not.
Who on earth was allowed to design this!? Looks like 2 x car designs mashed into one.I wouldnt get into one of these,as it has a bit of a creepy/dodgy feel to it. -Shudder-. This is NOT an iconic vehicle.There is no comparison to the old black London cabby..
Please tell me that it’s just the first phase of the UGLY DUCKLING’S transformation into the beautiful traditional London Black Cab…
Absolutely horrible – we want to keep the traditonal London Black Cab!!!