The JPN Taxi Is Toyota’s ‘Black Cab’ For The Olympics And Beyond

Although Tokyo’s fleet of ancient but generally immaculate Toyota Crown taxis is something a bit different for tourists to enjoy, the Japanese leviathan has come up with a new design of text for today.

You haven’t even got to squint to see where they got their design inspiration; the London Black Cab is visible from a mile away in the shape and proportions of the JPN Taxi. It’s slightly less chubby, but just like the Black Cab it looks a bit hearse-ish. The biggest difference is the sliding rear doors, where the Black Cab’s hinge.

It’s not actually black, though. The JPN Taxi is painted ‘koiai,’ a deep indigo colour long held as a symbol of Japan. Naturally the JPN Taxi runs a hybrid system. It’s a closed setup like the Prius’, but the internal combustion engine runs on LPG, which emits vastly less of the really nasty pollutants that harm city dwellers’ lungs.

Fuel economy is said to be a realistic 55mpg even in city centres, unless Black Cab-san has a very heavy foot. It’s safe, too – a hell of a lot safer than a Toyota Crown – thanks to Safety Sense technologies lifted from the current crop of Toyotas. There are six airbags in the five-seat cabin.

The idea is for a whole fleet of them to “greet and transport visitors to Japan from around the world when Tokyo hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020,” says Toyota. It’s quite conventionally car-like, with an ordinary four-passenger seat layout but plenty of leg- and headroom, unlike the London Taxi with its two rear-facing seats for five-passenger potential.

After the Olympics, it’s thought that the taxis will stay in production and gradually replace the older cars in circulation, improving safety and drastically lowering emissions.