Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: London Black Cabs Now Made Overseas

Photo by jtbarrett via Flickr (Creative Commons)

These days, London Taxi International has been unable to keep up with demand for its iconic black cabs. So the manufacturer is looking to expand beyond its small Coventry plant, and is headed overseas to—you guessed it—China. A new factory outside Shanghai is slated to produce 6,000 taxis per year, doubling the Coventry output. Rather than being shipped back to England, though, most of the Chinese-made vehicles will be exported to Singapore, Dubai, and other cities that, as the Globe and Mail puts it, “covet the image associated with” London’s famous black cabs.

©2009 World Hum, All Rights Reserved