The Chinese owner of the London Taxi Company Geely raised $400 million for the development of their new plug-in hybrid black cab.
Geely secured the amount through a green bond sale, with the proceeds to finance the development of the new generation TX5 black cab.
LTC’s new model was first revealed in October 2015 and will be based upon a new aluminum architecture powered by a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid powertrain. In the next two weeks Geely will move production to a new factory located in Coventry, UK where it will begin working on a prototype of the TX5.
The production plan says that sales are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017, just in time for the Jan.1, 2018 deadline when London will require all new taxis to a zero-emissions capability.
The new factory will have a production capacity of 36,000 taxis per year, with Frank Li, group chief financial officer saying that the company is already in discussions with other European cities that are looking into reducing the pollution coming from their taxi fleets.
“This is a landmark for us, not only in the sense of the funds raised, but also the purpose,” said Li. Geely’s green bond was oversubscribed by close to 6 times, marking the transaction as the first credit-enhanced green bond offering from an automotive company.
“We are committed to producing zero-emission capable vehicles,” said Peter Johansen, CEO of LTC in their official statement. “I believe the issuance of the Green Bond will further enhance our competitive edge in new energy technologies. Our next generation of zero-emission vehicles, the TX5, will be sold across the world, creating an environmentally friendly transportation system.”
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