NASHVILLE -- General Motors has turned to Nissan Motor Co. to put Chevrolet dealers into the small cargo van market.

GM, in a statement today, said it will rebadge Nissan's new four-cylinder NV200 commercial van as the Chevrolet City Express in the fall of 2014.


Nissan's NV200 small van went on sale a month ago.

The Nissan NV200, built in Cuernavaca, Mexico, went on sale at Nissan dealerships only last month.

The compact van segment is slowly attracting automaker interest. Until now, Ford Motor Co. has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the category with its Ford Transit Connect van. The smaller vehicles are being pitched as small-engine, fuel-efficient alternatives to the aging, full-sized commercial vans, a segment where the Detroit 3 have held sway for decades.

GM now wants a piece of the compact van segment.

"Our fleet customers have asked us for an entry in the commercial small van segment," Ed Peper, U.S. vice president of GM fleet and commercial sales, said in a joint statement released by GM and Nissan. "So this addition to the Chevrolet portfolio will strengthen our position with fleets and our commercial customers."

Nissan itself has broader hopes for the van, which is approximately the size of a Nissan Sentra. Nissan also intends to sell an electric version of the van and is on tap to produce a taxi version in an exclusive deal with New York City.


Chrysler was going to build the next-generation full-sized Titan pickup for Nissan, but that deal collapsed with the bankruptcy of Chrysler in 2009.

Other joint ventures

The supply arrangement is a first in North America for GM and Nissan. While GM has worked with Nissan alliance partner Renault in Europe, and the U.S. and Japanese companies make a van in Europe, they've not previously had a similar project for the United States and Canada, said Travis Parman, a Nissan spokesman.

NASHVILLE -- Five months before Nissan is to begin rolling its yellow taxis onto the streets of New York City, the state's supreme court has ruled one element of the deal "null, void and unenforceable."

New York Supreme Court Justice Peter Moulton has ruled that cab companies must still be able to buy hybrid electric vehicles from companies other than Nissan as their taxis.

Until now, Nissan's highly prized contract with the city was virtually a monopoly, calling for Nissan's recently introduced NV200 compact to serve as New York's exclusive cab for the next 10 years. Moulton's decree opens the door for cab drivers and companies to buy non-Nissan vehicles as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Taxi of Tomorrow concept.

Moulton ruled that in awarding the deal to Nissan, New York's Taxi & Limousine Commission did not meet a central requirement of its own bid specifications for the Taxi of Tomorrow. The city's specifications called for a "hybrid electric vehicle," and the NV200 is not a hybrid.

Nissan has promised New York a battery-powered, zero-emission electric version of the NV200 in future years. And court documents contain an assurance from Nissan that it plans to create a hybrid version in 2015. But that did not satisfy the court.

The commission is vowing to press ahead with Bloomberg's plan, and commissioners believe that a new set of rules they are proposing on hybrid taxis will soon straighten out the issue. The commission will meet on June 20 to propose new rules.

"This ruling will not delay the [Taxi of Tomorrow's] implementation," said David Yassky, chairman of the Taxi & Limousine Commission, in a prepared statement. "The TLC is acting to ensure that taxi owners will continue to have the option to purchase a hybrid vehicle, even once the ToT hits the road in October."

A Nissan Americas spokesman downplayed the impact of the court ruling, saying that it does not derail Nissan's lucrative contract, which is worth an estimated $1 billion.

"The NV200 taxi will continue as planned and launch in October," he said. Nissan is also in discussions with other major cities around the world about sourcing the NV200 as their official taxi.

Although the New York deal will likely only result in about 13,000 NV200 sales over the years, Nissan is also counting on the arrangement to showcase the Nissan brand to millions of New Yorkers and tourists every year.

Nissan launched production of the compact van, which is roughly the size of a Sentra, in Mexico earlier this year. It went on sale at Nissan's U.S. dealerships as a nontaxi commercial van in March. Previously it had been available in Europe.

The New York contract -- which has rankled some New York cabbies since it was inked last year -- would feature Nissan as the sole supplier of a single, passenger-friendly taxi model. The NV200 has been outfitted with copious rear legroom, transparent rooftops for sightseeing, cell-phone chargers, rear-seat air conditioning controls, reading lights and other features.

But the deal with Nissan has provoked a list of complaints and accusations by some New York cab companies, mostly directed against city officials. Among them: Nissan's see-through roof would prevent cabbies from selling roof-mounted advertising.

Moulton acknowledged the various grievances against the plan. But he said the only issue that concerned the court was whether the city's contract provided for a hybrid electric vehicle, and it did not.

Nissan has today unveiled the new face of its Taxi for London, re-designed to make it instantly recognisable as one of the capital's iconic black cabs.

Based on the company's successful multi-purpose NV200 platform, the vehicle was first unveiled as a bold and exciting new vision for the famous London Hackney Carriage in August 2012. In response to feedback from the London Mayor's office, Transport for London and other key organisations which have put their backing behind the new taxi, Nissan has redesigned the vehicle to better reflect the iconic nature of the traditional black cab.

Nissan's newly-redesigned taxi has been developed for London, in London, by Nissan Design Europe (NDE) in Paddington, the same design centre responsible for the Qashqai and Juke. The new taxi will be launched in December 2014 with a modern, clean, 1.6-litre petrol engine equipped with an automatic gearbox. Furthermore, Nissan will launch a zero emission electric version of the NV200 taxi in 2015.

Nissan already has a rich pedigree in the London taxi market - its 2.7-litre TD27 diesel engine was fitted to the FX4 ‘Fairway' and TX1 black cabs during the 1980s and ‘90s and gained a reputation for reliability and durability. In developing the NV200 Taxi for London, Nissan has ensured that it adheres to the strict TfL regulations governing Hackney Carriages, including the required 25-foot (7.6-metre) turning circle.

The NV200 cab for London is part of Nissan's global taxi programme, which also encompasses New York, Barcelona and Tokyo. The London version's design is bespoke, reflecting the rich heritage and status of London's black cabs.

Among the specific changes that have been made to the front of the NV200 taxi are:

- Round headlamps and a re-modelled grille mirroring the traditional black cab ‘face'
- LED lighting to improve visibility of the traditional taxi sign

Completely new front bumper panels

Design Excellence Manager at NDE, Darryl Scriven, said: "Having already overcome the unique technical challenges presented by the development of a new Hackney Carriage for London ahead of our launch of the vehicle in August 2012, we turned our attention to making the vehicle look the part.
"The Mayor's office and taxi drivers were very keen that we maintain the character of the Hackney Carriage, making it something that people in the city can be proud of.

"The main challenges were concerned with making sure customers can easily recognise it as a taxi. Being in London, we were able to go out and talk to cabbies about what was important to them as well as look at the vehicle from a customer's viewpoint. It's unusual for us to be able to work on something as bespoke as this, specifically for one location in the world and we are very proud to have been asked to do so."

Andy Palmer, Chief Planning Officer and Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Corporation, said: "Since we launched our Taxi for London in August 2012, we have worked closely with the Mayor's office and associated stakeholders and interested parties to ensure that Nissan's new cab not only raises the bar for both driver and passenger, but is also as instantly-recognisable as its legendary forebears.

"Alongside this, our engineers at Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, have continued work on the cab, running real-world trials on the streets of London."

Nissan intends to put the NV200 Taxi for London on sale in the Capital in December 2014. From launch the new taxi will be available with a 1.6-litre petrol engine equipped with an automatic gearbox. Compared to current diesel London taxis, this engine will be far cleaner, with lower levels of NOx and particulates.

Nissan franchised dealer group, Glyn Hopkin, has been appointed as the exclusive retailer to sell the Nissan NV200 Taxi for London from a purpose-built, ultra-modern showroom facility based in Canary Wharf.

Nissan is also forging ahead with its pioneering work in the sustainable motoring field, developing a 100 per cent electric taxi - the e-NV200 - which it aims to have on the streets of London years ahead of the Mayor's target of 2020 for the development of a zero-emissions taxi. Nissan's electric taxi will be on the streets of a UK city in 2015.