London Black Taxi maker Manganese Bronze in administration

Manganese Bronze – makers of the London Black Cab – has called in administrators after failing to secure funding following a TX4 recall.

Manganese Bronze – makers of the iconic London Black Cab – has had a pretty torrid few years. They sold a chunk of their shares in LTI (London Taxis International) to China’s Geely after years of failure to invest in their taxis left them struggling for sales, cash and turnover.

With a black cab that looks iconic but no longer cuts the mustard against alternatives like the Mercedes Vito taxi and the new Nissan NV200 Taxi, the Black Cab was an accident waiting to happen. And it almost has.

After a recent recall on the newest TX4 taxis after a steering box failure caused the steering to jam, Manganese Bronze appears to run out of options and, having failed to negotiate a cash influx from Geely, has rolled over and gone in to administration.

Sadly, this really could be the end for the Black Cab as we know it. Years of under-investment and falling sales means even die-hard London Cabbies are eschewing the TX4 for the more viable options from Mercedes (and now Nissan) and even manufacturing the TX4 in China (and just bolting it together in the UK) hasn’t helped cut costs enough to see any sign of a profit.

Now it looks like the London landscape could change for ever as the traditional black cab potentially disappears completely in the next few years, to be replaced by black Nissan and Mercedes cabs.