Kuwait Cabs Hail From London

Newcastle Herald

Saturday December 3, 2005

IF you thought Middle Eastern roads were chockful of Holdens wearing Chevrolet badges you should think again.

LTI Vehicles, maker of the ubiquitous "London cab", is getting ready to open up new markets in the Middle East and currently has two vehicles on the way to Kuwait for evaluation purposes.

Naturally, the Coventry-built cabs have been given a bit of an upspec to make sure they can handle the minor changes in climate between downtown London and Kuwait, and cope with less-than-perfect roads. Even the plastic "taxi" sign atop the roof has been made of a different material to stop it melting.

A major hurdle could be Kuwaiti regulations requiring taxis to be scrapped after just three years' use. The humble London cab has been built to last a lot longer than that.