Hyundai enters taxi segment in Mumbai!

Hyundai Motor India handed over its first batch of the Santro to the Mumbai Taxi Union at a ceremony organized at Modi Hyundai dealership. Mumbai has about 50,000 black and yellow taxis which are to be replaced by new vehicles. In the first run, the metropolis will have 30 Santro cars plying on the roads, as per the decision taken by the Taxi and Autorickshaw Welfare Sangh.

“Santro is a low-maintenance vehicle with lots of interior space and we are happy that the Taxi and Autorickshaw Welfare Sangh has also chosen the Santro for its fleet of cars to be used as taxis. We want to make a breakthrough in the Mumbai taxi market and hope to start it with the Santro,” D. C. Seol, Sr. GM, national sales, HMIL, said.

Mumbai city has approx 50,000 black & yellow taxis which are to be replaced by new vehicles. In the first run, the metropolis will have 30 Santro cars plying on the roads, as per the decision taken by the Taxi and Autorickshaw Welfare Sangh. The decision is in line with the state government’s policy to phase out the 25-year old vehicles plying as taxis. In all, 7,000 old taxis will be replaced in the first phase and by December’09 Hyundai proposes to sell around 1250 Santro taxis out of which 500 will be equipped with AC in Mumbai.
HMIL is offering the hugely popular Santro at a special price of Rs. 2,42,500 especially for the Taxi in Mumbai. The Hyundai dealer will also facilitate for the black and yellow coloring of the taxi. :)

(Motorbeam.com)

This Taxi looks very bad. I don't know how people will buy Santro, here after.

This seems like a very sensible step from Hyundai to me, firstly they should completely remove those padminis from there(They run at speed that a person can walk faster than it! lol :lol:) Hyundai santro is a good option as a taxi, It looks very nice, its very spacious from inside, equipped with AC plus its easy to maintain too, and CC, santro's sales have already started going down after the launch of i10, people prefer i10 anyday even if they have to spend few bucks more.

wow!
now mumbai residents can travel in comfort now instead of those padminis! :)
but guys u know even ambys make great taxis for its passengers but no AC!

In Kolkata(WB) Ambys do work as taxis, but they are very old,Even If they want to keep ambys only as taxi there they should offer them in grand or avigo version which comes with ac, beige interiors and other features.

Right Vibhor.. Anyways, nobody considers Santro now a days which is more than 10 years old.. This is the step in right direction..

Ouch.
A good decision but a very bad choice for a taxi
They should have considered the accent as it is more comfortable and has a bigger boot than the santro.

When i come to india i look forward to sit in a pal. I just love them. It will be sad not see them.

Exhaust note of Pal Padmini is very sporty particularly.. Hav driven couple of times.. But I hate Taxis and taxi walas in Mumbai.. They are maniacs on road..

Oh Zal its not that you wont see PALs now.

They are very much functional in many parts.
Of course many have transformed but still Nostalgia still exists :)

i agree with you vibhor
they should update their fleet of taxis!
this is looks like a good step in that direction!
next: XYLO taxis!

Next : Nano Taxis replace auto rickshaws :D

As we are discussing about mumbai Taxis, I would like to share some pics of bombay's PAL Taxis which i snapped last year on my mumbai visit -





(Above)Hmm..sporty gearlever, Doesn't that looks like paddle shift of Honda Civic?? :lol:



Check out padmini's latest tec. dash!


Just for safety!No central locking needed. NOTE: This comes as standard in every padmini!

Excellent pics.
Love the dash.
Its really amazing :P

I've changed gears on that paddle shift :D
Its really amazing and so damn confusing.

nice pics
looks very very old though!

The production was stopped almost 1.5 decades back so has to be old.
Some of the PALs i got to encounter as taxis were more than 4 lakh km old as per the operators.

no i know that it is old
but this is really really old!

Nice pics, but this one is not well maintained, I've seen many taxis which are well maintined and even have Cd player in them!

Road Rocket

even we had a well maintained premier padmini till 2006. it was a 1980 model. but sold it off as it was getting tiresome and costly to maintain the ageing beauty. it is the car in which i learnt to drive.
moving to santros is a good option. but a car with a large boot would serve better as a taxi. as the taxi drivers use cars with gas kits.

Ya, Correct hummer, these santros will have CNG cylinder in the boot which will occupy most of the space in boot, I think esteem or accent are best option!Esteems work as Taxis here in Delhi, they are called "Easy Cabs" and that too in white colour not in black and yellow, A typical Taxi colour!

yes and i think tata indigo would also make a good taxi.

Yup!indigo CS will do, its spacious quite cheap but what about its maintinance cost?

why is its maintainance cost high??

Not sure, But i said because its a Tata. ;)

ok.but i dont think tata is that bad now.