London black cab maker Geely opens all-new UK plant

Chinese car maker opens first new vehicle plant in Britain in more than a decade as it invests £300m in facility to build all-electric versions of the world famous taxi.

A black cab on the streets of Westminster, London. The maker of the famous taxi has opened a new British plant to build all-electric black cabs for the UK and global market. Oli Scarff / Getty Images

The Chinese car maker Geely, the owner of the London Taxi Company (LCT), on Wednesday opened a £300-million (Dh1.37 billion) UK factory making only electric versions of the world famous London black cab for use worldwide.

The site in Coventry, central England, “has the capacity to build more than 20,000 vehicles per year … the best ultra-low emission commercial vehicles in the world”, LTC said.

Geely bought LTC four years ago after the British company found itself in serious financial difficulty. Geely also owns Volvo and said it will use the Swedish car maker’s technologies and components in its new taxis.

“Today marks the rebirth of the London Taxi Company,” said the LTC chief executive Chris Gubbey after the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs linked to the plant’s opening.

The LTC chairman Carl-Peter Forster added that the plant is “the first brand new automotive manufacturing facility in Britain for over a decade, the first dedicated electric vehicle factory in the UK and the first major Chinese investment in UK automotive”.

As well as a £300m investment from LTC, the plant has been supported by £16.1m from the British government.

* AFP

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