Real Taxi

That 1976 Alfa Romeo New York taxi was the real taxi of the future.

The New York City executives have been quite vociferous about the fact that the Nissan NV200T is the "taxi of tomorrow", although its design doesn't differ much more than this blurry Italdesign and Alfa Romeo notion. This Taxi of Tomorrow really goes back to the Ford Administration. Developed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Alfa Romeo NYC Taxi seeks "realistic solutions" for the 1976 cabs.

Alfa was natural gas, but had a small apartment four of an Alfasud. Giugiaro's design is about spatial efficiencies, which of course should be the most important thing in a car designed to carry passengers through a congested town. One Crown Vic is four ft longer, and even the Nissan taxi occupies one ft more room on the street.

Wheelchair use could also be possible, much sooner than the Nissan taxi. Nissan'Taxi Of Tomorrow' still not wheelchair accessible? There were also slide gates on both sides, which was a design that would not really be accepted by anything up to the Nissan Stanza Wagon - and what a terrible way to present this notion to the buyer.

It' so small for the number of humans it could keep that it's still fit for the future. Unfortunately, the Alfa taxi was never accepted as anything other than a notion that was never accepted in the worlds. Nothing, if the fact that it was an Alfa Romeo raised long-term doubts about its soundness.

While the Alfa taxi design may not have gone anywhere as a white taxi, it definitely affected the Lancia Megagamma design - a design from 1978 that Fiat didn't really have the courage to go into mass production, but was adopted by just about every firm that built a small moped. However, it does prove that Alfa Romeo and Giugiaro forecast the taxi market 35 years ahead of time.

than a Nissan van. You can find more pictures on the Giugiaro page.