Nissan wins $1B contract to provide N.Y. taxicabs

Ford among bidders to lose out on 10-year deal that begins in '13

Staff and wire reports

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the nation's largest cab fleet, has chosen Nissan Motor Co. to design and supply a cab starting in late 2013 — a deal city officials value at $1 billion over 10 years.

The Nissan taxi, a modified version of Nissan's NV200 compact commercial vehicle already available in Japan, Europe and China, will be built at Nissan's plant in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

The base model, with a sticker price of $29,000, beat out finalists from Ford Motor Co. and Karsan of Turkey. Ford, however, said Tuesday it will continue to work with the city to put more Ford taxis on the streets immediately.

Nissan will also work with the city of New York on a pilot program to study zero-emission, electric vehicles as taxis.

Nissan will provide up to six all-electric Leaf models to taxi owners for testing in 2012, along with charging stations.

Carlos Tavares, Nissan's top executive in North America, said Tuesday the automaker, "is proud to provide the next generation of taxis for the city of New York."

"It's going to be the safest and most convenient cab the city has ever had," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday at a City Hall news conference with Tavares.

Not everyone, however, was pleased with the choice. Bill De Blasio, the city's public advocate, criticized Bloomberg for giving a contract to company based overseas "without seeking any commitments for investment in our local and national economies," according to an emailed statement from his office.

New York's cab fleet of 13,200 vehicles ferries 600,000 passengers a day. From 2013, Nissan will be the exclusive cab provider. The average New York City cab travels 70,000 miles a year.

The boxy new taxi will feature a transparent roof, passenger air bags, more legroom, charging stations for mobile devices, high fuel-efficiency ratings and built-in GPS navigation systems, and enough trunk space to handle the luggage of four people.

Seven companies responded to New York's request for proposals in December 2009.

The mayor sought input from among the 600,000 passengers who use New York yellow cabs daily. An on-line survey asked passengers to rate the importance of several categories, including fuel economy, interior room, accessibility and amenities such as electric outlets to recharge mobile phones.

Cabs have a life cycle of about three to five years, after which they must be replaced. The entire fleet would change over to the new vehicles within about five years, the city has said.

The current fleet is anchored by Ford's Crown Victoria. Yellow became the uniform color by law in 1967.