clusive
Ex
London Taxi “Made i
By Emmanuel Haddad, a French Jounalist’s perspective ©
London Taxis are as emblematic as On the metal, it is written London Taxis
bowler hats and the Queen Elizabeth.
International. A British car in Shanghaï
But recently, these extracts of British
? What we discover is not a clandestine
culture are beginning to cross
copy of the authentic ʻblack cabʼ but the
Chinese rickshaws in the maze
print of a new international strategy of the
of Shanghaï. A singular meeting
British company. While visiting the factory,
between British excellency and
we realised it not only fits to the demand
Chinese workaholics.
of quality, but also to the passion for
precision that the elegant main body of the
TX4 requires. This presence of the most
In the lush green suburbs of Shanghai, we
famous British cab in Chinese factories
enter a sprawling factory, without expecting
may surprise. Worst, the odd alliance may
to find any print of English industrial
disappoint the more nationalists (why not,
patrimony. But between the assembly
French are not always delighted to see that
line of the Shanghaï Maple factory, young
Chinese workers are fixing the acronym on
their wine is exported worldwide no ?), but
the top of an unuasal car of 135 cm high.
the operation that aims to give the distinctive
ʻblack cabʼ a greater presence outside its
namesake city is both economically safe
and necessary. What could the British fear ?
To see the meticulous workers of Shanghaï
Maple factory replace the english ones? The
answer is no. London Taxis International
will continue to build nine out ten cabs used
in Britain at a factory in Coventry. But the
British factory couldnʼt grow production
at its small-scale, high-cost plant. So it
turned to a partner and to China as a
way to drive overseas expansion. Geely
Holdings, the first private Chinese company
in car building, now possesses 23% of
the Manganese Bronze Holding, which
owns London Taxis International (LTI). The
ambitious joint venture “Britannic splendor”
is owned at 51% by Geely, and the LTI is
now “made in China” in the Shanghaï Maple
Company of Fengjing, in the suburb of
Shanghaï.
British traditionnalists could also fear to
lose the ʻspirit of excellencyʼ of the brand
for a marketing deal without soul. Negative.
London Taxis International aims neither
to change its values to fit in the Chinese
market, nor to displace Chinese taxis in the
maze of Chinese megalopolis. In fact, black
cab prestige will be useful to the Chinese
company. It is a question of give and take.
From one hand, LTI benefits from Geelyʼs
low-cost production – a chinese black
cab cost £20,000 whereas his English
Driver Yang Ling poses with a ‘black cab’, parked under
Shanghai’s symbol, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower
32
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52