LEVC will launch a new generation of London’s famous black cab next year – but it may be produced outside the UK.
The almost decade-old range-extender TX is being phased out due to “regulatory limitations”, LEVC said in its 2025 accounts published to Companies House.
The firm is unable to modify the taxi to meet new requirements on the strength of seats, seat anchors and head restraints.
It said it “achieved its sales targets” by selling 725 examples of the TX last year and that this year’s output would be limited to “final-stage assembly”.
LEVC, formerly the London Taxi Company, is owned by Chinese car giant Geely, and produced both the TX and its precedessor, the TX4.
The TX is built in Ansty, near Coventry, and is one of the few Hackney carriages that meets Transport for London's conditions of fitness that allow it to be certified for use as a London black cab.
LEVC has also offered a commercial van version in an attempt to broaden its market.
No technical details of the new taxi have been offered but. given the need to meet London's emissions regulations while also remaining practical for cab drivers to operate in the suburbs of the capital, it may well retain the current 1.5-litre range-extender powertrain.
Although LEVC's statement said that it's transitioning the Ansty plant to production of the new model, its accounts paint a different picture. It said it's working with Geely "in attempts to secure the development activity needed for the next generation of TX and future assembly activities at Ansty".
That uncertainty suggests it's also considering alternative sites to build the next generation of taxi, which could include parent company Geely’s plant in Yiwu, China.
LEVC has previously referred to Yiwu as its Chinese manufacturing base, despite no LEVC-branded models being built there.
It added: “The timing for the development, investment and introduction of this product remains uncertain, as does future use of the Ansty manufacturing facility.”
Moreover, LEVC is working with Geely’s Chinese arm to support development of the next TX, and Ansty could be used to build other models from the Geely group in the future.
