China Car Times

If you happen to have an excellent command of Cockney, and live in the PRC, you might just be able to become a real British taxi driver by the end of the year.

According to earlier media reports, the TX4 will be put into production in August 2008, and will be on sale by the end of the year. Currently their are 30 British made TX4’s doing the rounds in Beijing as part of the Oylmpics, the large seating capacity of the London cabs are excellent for helping disabled visitors to Beijing get around with ease. The smaller Jettas, and Santana taxis wont allow a wheel chair to roll straight in!

The Chinese made TX4 reportedly makes use of engines supplied by Mitsubishi, the first model will be a 2.4l, their is reports of a follow up 2.0l model.

Geely and the British taxi maker, Manganese Bronze Holdings, came together to form a joint venture partnership to build the iconic taxi in mid 2007. The two companies formed Shanghai LTI Automobile Components Co, of which, 52% is owned by Geely (1% by Geelys sub-brand, Maple, and 51% by Geely Holding Group), and 48% by Manganese Bronze Holdings. The taxi making project is being headed by Paul Stowe, who was unavailable for comment this morning.

The 30 Olympic Black cabs that were sent to Beijing have caused quite a stir on the internet, with both domestic and foreign bloggers wondering what such an iconic car was doing in China.