Nissan NV200: Nissan’s take on the London Taxi

Nissan is taking on the Black Cab market with the Nissan NV200 London Taxi, expected to go on sale in 2014 from around £30k. It may not be the biggest market in the car world, but the profile of the London Taxi makes it a worthwhile target for car makers. Mercedes recently took on the traditional Black Cab with their Vito-based taxi and did a very good job – but at a price; the Mercedes Vito Cab costs around £42k, almost £10k more than the traditional London Taxi.

Pilkington Vehicle Design Awards 2011

One student designer has made history by winning the prizes for Best Overall Design and Best Use of Glazing at the 2011 Pilkington Vehicle Design Awards. For the first time in the awards' 24-year history, the prizes were awarded to Adam Phillips, a postgraduate of the vehicle design course at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Phillips, who previously worked as a toy designer for Lego before studying at the RCA, scooped the awards with a concept on the modern family car that uses iPad-style technology called ‘Family Dynamic'.

Jeremy Hicks is new Jaguar Land Rover UK MD

Jaguar Land Rover UK appoints Jeremy Hicks (pictured) as Managing Director Jaguar Land Rover have decided to tidy up their management structure at JLR UK, and have appointed a single Managing Director for Jaguar Land Rover UK, which brings JLR UK in to line with the practice in other JLR regions around the world. Historically, probably because Jaguar and Land Rover were originally separate entities in the UK, Jaguar UK and Land Rover UK have had their own Managing Directors – until this reshuffle they were Geoff Cousins at Jaguar and Colin Green at Land Rover – but with JLR growing strongly worldwide it was felt it was time to tidy things up. That means the arrival of former Audi UK boss Jeremy Hicks to the fold as the new MD of JLR UK.