SMMT News

Nissan turns the light on for taxi manufacturing in Coventry

28 January 2014 #SMMT News

Nissan has announced that its new NV200-derived Taxi for London will be assembled in partnership with ADV Manufacturing in Coventry, marking a joint investment of £6 million.

Final assembly of the new Taxi for London, which was penned at Nissan’s European Design Centre in London, will take place at ADV’s newly-constructed facility in the West Midlands. Bespoke bodywork, interior, suspension and steering will be fitted to the taxi, with first deliveries expected in December 2014. A pure electric version, which has batteries manufactured in Sunderland, will be launched in 2015.

Speaking at the prestigious Bugatti Lecture at Coventry University, Andy Palmer, Chief Planning Officer and Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Corporation, said, “Our new Taxi for London is part of a wider, international taxi programme that forms a key part of Nissan’s global strategy, so we are naturally being very prudent in selecting our partners. ADV has demonstrated that it has the proficiency and capability to deliver what we believe will become a new icon for London.

“We are pleased to be reinforcing once again our commitment to the British automotive industry and the fact that our black cabs will be rolling off the production line in Coventry, with its long history in the taxi business, is an added bonus.”

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ADV, which reshored from Italy in 2011, also announced that it is already recruiting more engineers and technicians to reinforce its production and development teams.

Brendan O’Toole, CEO of ADV Manufacturing said, “With Coventry University turning out world class engineers and an army of great workers steeped in automotive manufacturing disciplines right on our doorstep, we couldn’t be located in a better place to launch such an exciting and prestigious project as the New Taxi for London. We anticipate the Nissan taxi will become the new market standard and thereby underpin sustainable jobs at ADV for many years”.

The joint-investment has also been supported by a loan of nearly £4 million through AMSCI (Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chain initiative, government’s jobs creation fund for manufacturing).

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