Nissan boss announces London taxi production news at University lecture

Dr Andy Palmer, executive vice president of Nissan, announced on Tuesday night during Coventry University's prestigious Bugatti Lecture that the Japanese company's iconic new taxi for London will be built in Coventry.

Stratford-upon-Avon born Dr Palmer, who holds a diploma in Industrial Design from Coventry University, chose his talk to Coventry students to announce the news of the £6 million investment by Nissan which will see the NV200 taxi assembled by ADV Manufacturing in Exhall.

Dr Palmer told the BBC during a live interview just ahead of his lecture:

It's a real pleasure to be making this announcement at Coventry University - my home university - and in Coventry, now the home of the new Nissan taxi.

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 prudent 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.

Tim Martin, managing director of ADV Manufacturing, 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 an army of great workers steeped in automotive manufacturing disciplines right on our doorstep. 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.