Nissan chooses Coventry’s ADV to assemble new London taxi in £6m investment
A COVENTRY-based manufacturer has been appointed by car giant Nissan to carry out final assembly of its new London taxi.
The appointment of ADV Manufacturing is part of a £6m investment in the city’s manufacturing capabilities and further boosts its taxi-making capabilities following the rescue last year of London Taxi Company, which manufactures the iconic black cabs which are such an established sight on the streets of the capital.
Andy Palmer, Nissan’s Chief Planning Officer and Executive Vice President, revealed the news as part of his address to students at Coventry University, where he was delivering the prestigious Bugatti Lecture on the future of motoring.
ADV will build a new production facility for the assembly operation next to its existing factory in Exhall. The project is being supported by a £4m investment from the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, which is delivered by Finance Birmingham.
The first petrol-engined versions of the new vehicle are expected in December 2014. An all-electric variant of the black cab, whose final design was unveiled in London earlier this year, will begin in 2015.
Designed in London, for London at Nissan Design Europe (NDE) in Paddington, the new vehicle is being produced to conform to strict Transport for London regulations that govern the Hackney Carriage status.
The base vehicle is sourced from Nissan’s Barcelona factory and will be shipped to the ADV plant in Coventry for final taxi assembly. This extensive taxi transformation includes new bodywork, taxi interior refit and revised suspension and steering.
ADV was established on an 11-acre industrial site in Exhall in August 2010. The plant and facilities were commissioned to supply exterior trim products to Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin. Its manufacturing capabilities were expanded in early 2011 to supply complete door assemblies. Further investment has followed a new full vehicle paint line will be installed this summer.
ADV currently has sales of £13m, employs over 150 people and is set to double in size over the next three years.
The company’s CEO is Brendan O’Toole, the man behind the ill-fated scheme to build the Spyker supercar in Coventry.
He said: “This is great news for ADV and indeed for the city of Coventry. The company is already taking on more engineers, technicians and other specialist staff to reinforce our product development group. We will be expanding and training our production team to build taxis from the early summer.
“With Coventry University turning out world class engineers and the city itself being steeped in a rich automotive manufacturing history, 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.”
ADV was selected as the final assembly partner after an extensive tender process and on the basis of its expertise and track record in the production of specialist vehicles.
Palmer added: “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 careful 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.”
