Nissan Wins Taxi of Tomorrow Competition?

This is a decision that makes little sense to anyone but the Taxi and Limousine Commission and Mayor Bloomberg. Nissan's proposal supposedly came out ahead in the taxi of tomorrow competition of its competitors from Ford or Karsan and it is expected to win the right to field the taxi fleet for New York City in coming years.

The Daily News reported last week that the Nissan bid received the highest score in the competition based on design features like interior legroom and durability.

Bloomberg and Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky in November revealed that Nissan was among three finalists in the competition, along with Ford and Turkish carmaker Karsan.

At the time, officials said the winner would get a 10-year contract giving them exclusive right to make and sell yellow cabs to city hacks and fleet owners.


An interior shot of the Nissan cab.NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission

The choice is bound to be controversial. While there are 13,200 yellow cabs, only about 240 are handicapped accessible. Advocates saw the competition as an opportunity to increase the mobility for the estimated 50,000 wheelchair users in the city, along with many others who have difficult walking.

Advocates for the disabled have been pushing for the Karsan design because it featured ramps that mechanically extend from both sides of the vehicle. Its design also featured a see-through roof, offering new vertical vistas for everyday riders and tourists.

Large fleet owners wanted the Ford Transit Connect, another van that has been used for commercial purposes in Europe and has been approved for use as a cab in U.S. cities like Boston.

Either way, the taxi of the future won't be on the road anytime soon.

The Karsan was a more flexible interior with the ADA compliance thrown in. Moreover, Karsan had announced that they'd build a factory to manufacture the taxis in Brooklyn, giving a boost to the local economy on top of the features that mean much to those who use taxis on a regular basis.

I expect that the decision will come under tremendous scrutiny and that local politicians will demand a review - particularly those from Brooklyn who lost out on the opportunity for the factory and the jobs and impact on the local economy.

Moreover, the only reason I can see the Karsan project losing is that it simply wasn't a household name among carmakers as compared to Nissan.

A Tipping Point in the Taxi of Tomorrow Design Competition?

Does the fact that Turkish automaker Karsan plan on building their Taxi of Tomorrow for the New York City taxi fleet in Brooklyn mean that the company should get an edge in the competition.

I think it most certainly does. The company plans on building the taxis in Brooklyn's Marine Terminal.

Automaker Karsan, hoping for an edge in the three-way race to design New York City's newfangled cabs, has told city officials it would put its auto plant in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

Karsan bigwigs claim the Sunset Park assembly line would immediately create several hundred jobs and later "as many as 800."

"Karsan is unconditionally committed to producing the 'Taxi of Tomorrow' at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal," Karsan USA President Bill Wachtel pledged last month in a letter to David Yassky, chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Wachtel also sent a copy of the letter to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Ford and Nissan also are competing to design the city's exclusive yellow cab model for the next decade, but it wasn't immediately clear whether either had made a similar build-it-here pledge.

The city launched the "Taxi of Tomorrow" project four years ago, with a goal of selecting one iconic design that's fuel-efficient and comfortable. The cab will replace the 16 models now authorized, including the Crown Victoria. The Crown Vic is the most dominant model on the road, but Ford is halting its production.

None of the three designs would have been initially built in the United States, let alone in New York. Now, Karsan has proposed building the taxis in New York City, and that could be a major factor in deciding to give the deal to Karsan. It would also mean that the manufacturer could tweak the design as it gets feedback from the Taxi and Limousine Commission and drivers who use the vehicle on a daily basis and incorporate the changes. It would also bring back a manufacturing operation to the City that has been shedding manufacturing jobs for decades.

It would likely take several years to transform the Marine Terminal into a manufacturing plant for vehicle production.