Opposite Fare

"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7) 01/09/2019 at 23:02 • Filed to: Taxi, London Taxi, Hong Kong, Toyota Crown Comfort, Hybrid, Toytoa Comfort Hybrid

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Toyota Hong Kong recently introduced the replacement for the Crown Comfort taxi that has served the city for nearly a quarter century. TBH, these were overdue for retirement as they have early 1990s crash safety.

The new Comfort Hybrid is, admittedly, a pretty terrible rip of the “Black Cab” London taxi in the looks department, but it has some neat surprises such as its efficient powertrain and the passenger-side sliding rear door for unhindered wheelchair ingress/egress. Per the article, annual operating costs are expected to be 40% less than the Crown and thus justify the HK$320,000 (US$41k) upgrade price tag.

AFAIK, t he “Comfort Hybrid” name is new as the car was introduced as the “JPN Taxi” for the JDM in 2017.

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facw > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2019 at 23:26

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I’m a bit disappointed no one has bought into Karsan’s Taxi (though I can understand wanting to go with a more proven player) :

(apologies for posting a picture of that idiot, they didn’t have a prototype when they bid in NYC).

The layout looks really good though:

And unlike the winner in NYC, it would be able to load a wheelchair from the sidewalk rather than awkwardly needing to go out into the street and load the passenger into the rear of the vehicle.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > facw 01/09/2019 at 23:52

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I like the way the front end of that looks.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > facw 01/09/2019 at 23:52

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This looks pretty cool, but I’d bet this one wouldn’t have been able to hit the price point that Toyota did.

The Toyota supposedly has the same ability to side-load a wheelchair.

facw > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/10/2019 at 00:03

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Maybe not. NYC ended up picking the Nissan NV200 over this and the Transit Connect, which was a very conservative choice. Karsan actually pledged to build an assembly plant in the city, but that wasn’t enough to get a design that was not as far along and from a company without a much of a history of making US market vehicles selected.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > facw 01/10/2019 at 01:05

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Hong Kong also picked the NV200 for premium taxis beginning a few years ago. Although it’s a very blah-looking thing, it hauls a bit more than the normal taxis, and does so a bit more comfortably.

Compared to the NV200 , this purpose-built cab is far more interesting IMO.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/10/2019 at 02:16

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mount the door mirrors on the door, and that would probably do alright over here.

Toyota Camry hybrid  is a popular taxi choice