A Turkish car manufacturer vying to build the “Taxi of Tomorrow” has vowed to build the cabs in Brooklyn if it wins the job.
Automaker Karsan, hoping for an edge in the three-way race to design New York City‘s newfangled cabs, has told city officials it would put its auto plant in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Karsan bigwigs claim the Sunset Park assembly line would immediately create several hundred jobs and later “as many as 800.”
“Karsan is unconditionally committed to producing the ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal,” Karsan USA President Bill Wachtel pledged last month in a letter to David Yassky, chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Wachtel also sent a copy of the letter to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
Ford and Nissan also are competing to design the city’s exclusive yellow cab model for the next decade, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether either had made a similar build-it-here pledge.
The city launched the “Taxi of Tomorrow” project four years ago, with a goal of selecting one iconic design that’s fuel-efficient and comfortable. The cab will replace the 16 models now authorized, including the Crown Victoria. The Crown Vic is the most dominant model on the road, but Ford is halting its production.
In November, when Yassky and Mayor Bloomberg announced the finalists, each company indicated its cabs would be manufactured overseas.
But the March 11 letter reveals Karsan has reversed direction.
“The number of jobs that would be created at the outset is in the range of two to three hundred, and could quickly grow to as many as 800,” Wachtel wrote.
In an interview with the Daily News, Wachtel struck the same theme. “For the city to award a billion-dollar contract so foreign jobs can be created would simply be wrong when the jobs can be created right here in Brooklyn as part of the mayor’s waterfront development,” Wachtel told The News.
Karsan is based in Turkey and has manufactured cars for other companies, including Peugeot.
The TLC has been tight-lipped about the details of discussions with the trio of manufacturers.
Nissan’s entry, the NV200, and Ford’s design, the Ford Transit Connect, are vans already used for commercial purposes in Europe and Asia. Transit Connect is also on the road in some U.S. cities, including Boston.
The Karsan cab has two particularly unique features: a glass, see-through roof providing views of the sky and skyscrapers, and ramps that mechanically extend to the street or sidewalk for wheelchair users. Only 238 of the city’s 13,200 yellow cabs are handicapped-accessible.
“We have three strong final contenders, and we are evaluating them as we speak,” said TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg.
