Official: Nissan NV200 is New York’s Taxi of Tomorrow, Hits Streets in October 2013

New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted this week to officially make the Nissan NV200 New York’s Taxi of Tomorrow. While the NV200 was selected to be the city’s next taxi months ago, lawsuits from disabled rights groups (among others) prevented the TLC from mandating that drivers replace their retiring cabs with NV200s.

With the TLC’s vote, the Nissan NV200 will be the exclusive taxi of New York City for a decade, starting in October of 2013. Nissan says the new cab, powered by a 2.0-liter I-4 making 135 hp and driving the front wheels through a CVT, will “significantly improve the overall fuel efficiency of New York’s taxi fleet,” which isn’t as impressive as it sounds, considering the vast majority of New York City cabs are currently Ford Crown Victoria sedans that net 16/24 mpg highway/city. The NV200 hasn’t been rated by the EPA yet, but will probably net somewhere around 22/27 mpg.

When the NV200 starts hitting city streets it won’t just be powered by internal combustion. Nissan is currently working with FedEx in getting feedback on the all-electric e-NV200, which shares its drivetrain components with the Leaf. Nissan plans on expanding real-world testing from London and Yokohama, Japan to Singapore, Brazil, and New York, where the passenger version of the e-NV200 will see service as a cab.

With the announcement yesterday, Nissan also released a video of how it picked the perfect shade of yellow for the NV200 cab. The automaker says it even considered changing the iconic color of New York’s taxi fleet from yellow to another color, like purple or green. You can watch the short video on that below.

When the NV200 taxi goes on sale to New York City hacks in October of next year, Nissan will offer two versions – a regular passenger van and a wheelchair-accessible version.