It's recently emerged that the fast charging units planned for the feeder park at Heathrow, will not be installed, as both BA and TfL refuse to pay the quarter of a million pound price tag for the sub station and 8 units.
Considering the TX5 will be the only new cab available in 10 months time, virtually no new charging points have emerged anywhere across London.
After making a 300 million pound investment in a new plant close to the existing facility (which makes the current range of London Taxis), Geely, is aiming for a ten-fold increase in annual output to around 10,000 cabs and light commercial vehicles by the turn of the decade. They are also looking to sell taxis to major European cities. (With their price tag and no subsidy, good luck with that one!)
Despite industry concerns, the cab-maker has pushed ahead with its investment plans and has nearly completed a new factory in central England.
LTC, traces its roots back to 1899 and was bought by Geely back in 2013 after a series of Taxi engine fires put the company into administration. Executives have visited cities such as Oslo, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin in recent months, seeking new markets for the London black taxi. It's not clear whether they will be pushing the expensive new TX5 electric Taxi or will carry on production of the TX4 euro 6.
Chief Executive Chris Gubbey declined to say which city would be the first overseas market for the cab but the firm will aim to export its new low-emissions model from next year.
"We'll start selling them in 2018," Gubbey said, acknowledging that it will be tricky to break into markets long dominated by other brands.
"They tend to be very nationalistic in their products and I think knowing that, we have to very sensible about what we believe can be our rate of climb in terms of market share," he said, referring to some European cities.
Gubbey has recently said the Brexit vote and uncertainty around the country's future trading arrangements had not prompted any investment changes but still, there were major concerns.
10 comments:
Off u trolleys buying that sort uber out first but even so cab prices have spiralled out of control should be under 30.000 pile of crap
Why are we messing about with an unknown technology in working vehicles? LPG is a clean fuel, only water vapour comes out of the exhaust, there are filling stations across the UK, the tank range is around 300 if driven sensibly not like a racing car (they are quick). The conversion is around £8,200 and the fuel is half price. Over 5yrs extra life they are cost neutral and much smoother to drive. Surely LTC should have looked at this instead of using us as guinea-pigs? This system is similar to the one that the eco buses use and it didn't work in a commercial vehicle. Those buses are driving around the on the deisel generators because the batteries are too expensive to replace. And TfL are forcing us to use a technology they know isn't ready for commercial use?
Anon 11.45:
"Only water vapour comes out of the exhaust"?
LPG produces fewer emissions than petrol or diesel. But it still produces carbon monoxide(CO) and nitrous oxides (NO2). You're confusing it with hydrogen.
Buy the TX5, £60000ish, hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahshahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha. Good one.
love 2 of the COMMENTS at the end of the AUTOEXPRESS article - it's not a review, as how can you review, something, that doesn't exist?
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/98450/new-2017-london-taxi-more-details-of-cleaner-tx5-hybrid-revealed
COMMENTS:
If Geely hadn't sold and bankrupted Manganese Bronze with faulty steering parts, it would still be a UK company.
and
Condensation in the headlights... I smell sh!_tty build quality lol
Who's gonna buy one of these overpriced untested pieces of shit.
On top of all that there's no one to pick up.
Trump won't buy them he knows globle warming is a load of bollocks.
And so does everyone else with half a brain.
Why didn't TFL allow the petrol engine Nissan? It costs around £1000 to convert petrol to LPG rather than £8000 converting diesel to LPG.
Sir,this is every bit as important as the upcoming action re Bank demo and exposing TfL corruption . I implore every driver,young,old male or female,do not purchase one of these white elephants. They will surely be a millstone round the neck for years to come. Ridiculously expensive unproven technology by a company with a track record every bit as dubious as the iniquitous licensing authority. Geely are a third rate 'lift and shift' operation. Just how many of their componnets where on the previous generation tx4 which bankrupted Lti through failure and allowed them to 'step' in and takeover the lame product. For gods sake gas up your cab. It is the y forward. It gives you breathing space in this most troubled of times. To buy an electric 5 would be foolhardy in the extreme. If we can see cab sales fall off a cliff, to the point of zero, this will really be a show of intent. Perhaps even the lame hamfisted ltda magazine will stop taking the thirty pieces of silver in advertising revenue and bring a halt to plastering the pages of their magazine with geelys latest bastard child.
zero VAT rate for taxis, bring us in line with most of Europe, that would help.
Remember back in 1990 wheel chair assessable taxis a European directive. So LTI went ahead and produced it. I am sure with the thought of supplying cabs Europe wide. Drivers protested against being forced to buy these vehicles if France Italy Germany Belgium. It fell through but only after our Gov. agreed to the directive. So instead of a reasonable price increase a 5K plus increase. These same countries won't buy these cabs. Plus as we have Brexit learing nobody knows what the restrictions on supplying Europe from the UK with cabs. The trade is too up in the air. It need to be stabilised for at leased 2 yrs after we sort out TfL.
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