Mercedes Vito London Taxi comes out fighting

Mercedes has come out fighting against the Nissan NV200 London Taxi with an assertion of the benefits of the Mercedes Vito Taxi.

Yesterday we had the news that Nissan, not content with just undermining the Crown Victoria as the NYC Yellow Cab, have turned their attention  to the London Taxi with their NV200 take on the Black Cab.

So far, LTI hasn’t responded to the imminent threat to their business from Nissan (but then they still haven’t really reacted to Mercedes entry in to the market), but Mercedes has, coming out fighting this morning with a press release extolling the virtues of the Vito Taxi.

Mercedes point out – very reasonably – that the Vito Taxi is the only Euro V London Taxi available now, and that it offers a great deal more then the traditional LTI cab.

For starters, it’s going to be a lot more reliable. It has economy as good as the Black Cab (although not as good as the NV200), it has the 25′ turning circle (thanks to rear wheel steering), and it has interesting extras like AirCon, Parktronic sensors, flush-fitting electric steps and electrically opening and closing doors.

Mercedes Vito London Taxi Photos

Mercedes also point out that servicing is just every 24,000 miles and that they do a special finance deal for London Cabbies at £2k down and £135 a week for three years, and then start again with a new Vito Taxi. And the Vito cab is under warranty for that whole three years and 150,000 miles.

It’s a convincing and powerful argument for a very able taxi. Whether it’ll be enough to continue the Vito Taxi’s sales growth (up 40%) once the Nissan NV200 arrives, remains to be seen. But, at least for now, it’s a much better deal for Cabbies than the LTI offering.

If only the Vito Taxi looked more like a traditional black cab, and less like a van with windows.

By Cars UK