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Blog > Taxi anyone?
Author: Martin Hayes
Aside from the Duke of Edinburgh, not too many people aspire to own their own taxi (although many parents of teenagers may think they already drive one!) so I’ll be looking carefully at events in Shanghai next month.
There, for the duration of the World Expo, which brought in an estimated 70 million additional visitors to the city this year, the authorities arranged for 3,200 additional taxis to be on the streets. And not just any old taxis either. As visitors know, VW ‘stitched up’ the City Government several decades ago when it opened a plant in the city and now all taxis by law have to be VWs.
However, the taxi drivers had a say and they resisted all efforts to ‘upgrade’ them to the larger and more expensive Passat range (now on a Mark 2 version) when it was introduced a long time ago now. Instead, especially for them, the venerable Santana model continues in production – a real step back in automotive time (a bit like the Hindustan in India, but not quite so extreme).
For the Expo, which closes its doors at the end of October, the City fathers insisted on special models of the large, modern and practical VW Touran MPV. Much easier to get in and out of than the Santana and, with leather seats, etc, a good deal more comfortable all round. So it was with some hope last week in Shanghai that I looked around for this new taxi iteration whenever possible.
But enjoy it while you can! In November, after some modest refurbishment, these new era taxis are to be sold off to the public, leaving their erstwhile drivers to get back behind the wheel of the Santanas they have parked up in the meantime. One step forward, one step back …
1st Nov 10
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Title: |
Miss |
Name: |
Judy Wang |
Comment: |
Martin, thanks that you still remember the Touran taxi in Shanghai! Glad to let you know that the government changed their mind in the last minute and kept these Tourans as taxis even the World Expo is closed. I doubt the drivers don't want to go back to the Santanas as they ve driven this for 6 months! |