page_title: Taxicabs of Hong Kong
section_title: Cars used
hierarchical_section_title: Taxicabs of Hong Kong / Cars used
caption_attribution_description: English: Nissan NV200 in Hong Kong taxi service
context_page_description: Hong Kong taxicabs are the principal taxi service in Hong Kong. Although a few taxis are independently owned and operated, the vast majority are owned by 17 independent taxi companies that rent out taxis on a shift basis to 40,000 self-employed drivers.
  As of 2017, there were 18,163 taxis in Hong Kong, of which 15,250 were urban taxis, 2,838 were New Territories taxis, and 75 were Lantau taxis. Every day they serve about 1.1 million, 207,900 and 1,400 people respectively.
context_section_description: Historically, Standard, DeSoto Deluxe, Morris Oxford, Ford Popular, Hillman Minx, Austin 8, Austin Cambridge, Mercedes W120 Ponton, Ford Anglia, Vauxhall Cresta and Vauxhall Velox were used up to the 1960s. Since the 1970s, Japanese cars replaced the various European models used earlier. Among them, the Toyota Crown Comfort YXS10 and Nissan Cedric Y31 had always been the most popular.
  All taxis bear a semi-circular green plate on the front grille, and at the back of the vehicle indicating the number of seats available. Throughout history, most Hong Kong taxis have been 4-door saloons with bench seats in the front, thus allowing it to carry up to five passengers (driver excluded). In the early 1980s, 4-passenger taxis were introduced. Smaller saloons such as the Nissan Bluebird 910, Nissan Sunny B12, Toyota Corona (CT141) and the Mitsubishi Lancer were used. However, these were all phased out by the mid-1990s. Since then and until 2008, all Hong Kong taxis have been 5-passengers vehicles. But from 2008, the new Toyota Comfort equipped with new 2.0 VVT-i engine and equipped with floor shift automatic instead of column shift automatic, making the new Comfort a 4-passengers taxi again.
  Australian Ford Falcon estate cars tried to enter the market in year 2000 but it was never popular.
  Today, almost all taxis in Hong Kong are Toyota Comfort (YXS10) (over 99%), the minority being Nissan Cedric (Y31) saloons since Nissan Cedric (Y31) was discontinued from the end of 2005.
  On 29 May 2007, there were reports that plans are afoot to introduce the LTI-licensed, Chinese Geely-manufactured, LPG-powered TX4 London Black Cabs into the Hong Kong taxi service market. A feasibility study is under way between the Hong Kong Productivity Council and Geely.
  In February 2013, Crown Motors introduced a new Toyota Prius (XW30) Hybrid Taxi to HK Taxi line up, but it is still not that common on the street.
  In May 2013, Nissan had re-updated a newer Nissan Cedric Y31 to the HK Taxi line up with newly re-updated bumpers, a newer taxi top and a Cedric badge, but it is still considered uncommon on the street.
  On 11 December 2014 Honest Motors Unveil a new type of Taxi to HK, a Nissan NV200 Taxi. The taxi is powered by both gasoline and LPG.
  On 5 February 2015 Ford also introduced a new Taxi – Ford Transit Connect Taxi, Power by a LPG 2.5L i-VCT engine.
  In 2017, Toyota discontinued production of Toyota Comfort and LPG Comfort, and started producing the new JPN Taxi for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The JPN Taxi simply called Toyota Comfort is a LPG Hybrid Taxi uses 1NZ-FPX I4 LPG engine with Hybrid system. The first batch of the JPN taxi was shipped to Hong Kong in July 2018.
  All taxis are imported new, there is a type approval process for approving the models of cars to be used as taxis (which means unapproved models cannot be used as taxis). However, used parts of Japan are frequently used. So sometimes there are Japanese stickers on the taxis doors.
  Most importers just import red colour base cars. For green and blue taxis, the owners have to convert the cars into the correct colour, and they usually only paint the exterior, and people can still see the original red colour from the door gap or engine compartment.
caption: Nissan NV200
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