Nissan wins New York taxi bid

Nissan won the fight for an exclusive 10-year contract to design and supply the next generation of taxis for New York City, starting in 2013.

"The new taxis will be custom-designed to meet the specific demands of carrying 600,000 passengers a day in New York City traffic," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday. "The vehicle meets the top priorities identified by the public in our online survey."

Nissan was battling Ford Motor Co. and Turkey's Karsan Otomotiv for the $1 billion deal.

The Nissan taxi, to be based on the NV200 minivan, will replace the 16 models now on the city streets.

Karsan had vowed to assemble its cars in Brooklyn, using union labor. Choosing Ford would have given New York City the public-relations halo of picking an American automaker.

The Nissan taxi will be produced at the company's facility in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

As a part of the partnership, Nissan will work with the city and taxi owners on a pilot program studying the use of electric vehicles as taxis.

By Julie Alvin