By Simon Leufstedt, published on March 21st, 2008
There are currently around 12000 traditional “yellow cabs” in New York today. They are big and gas-guzzling. Now Ford wants to replace them all with their new Ford Transit Connect Taxi Concept.
The new Ford Transit Connect is smaller and more compact than the older yellow cabs. They are designed with less horizontal space and with more vertical space. But it will actually have more space for passengers and their cargo than the older cabs. It also features dual sliding doors which help cause less pain in an over-crowded city like New York.
The Ford Transit Connect uses a standard 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine which uses 30% less fuel and releases 90% less exhaust fumes than the older cabs. The new cab will get an estimated 19 mpg in the city.
The driver of the cab will get an in-dash computer, running Microsoft Auto software, which is linked to Internet and offers traffic, weather, and navigation information and help.
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3 Comments
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
In our town we have the following as Taxis
Fiat Doblo:
http://www.globalautoindex.com/model.plt?no=5312&ass=#
and
Peugeot Partner
http://www.globalautoindex.com/model.plt?no=1915&ass=
Both work very well, so I expect the Transit Connect will be a good Taxi, but 19 mpg is still not that good! Even the traditional London cab can do that.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Thinking of local Taxis (Corby, Northamptonshire), for two or three years there was a big shift to the van derived Taxi. However, now the traditional London cab is making a comeback.
http://www.lti.co.uk/
It might be a lot more expensive to buy, but the coachwork panels, and traditional chassis mean that reapir cost / time off road are a lot less.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Hey there- no matter what they try and do as far as designing a different taxi, it still comes down to the gas mileage. Nothing else really matters in todays world. As gas continues to rise, Ford and the other manufacturers need to focus on electric cars or other kinds of non gas vehicles.
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