China's Geely, owner of the London Taxi Company (LTC), opened a £300 million ($374 million) factory in the UK on Wednesday.
According to the London Taxi Company, the facility is located in the village of Ansty in Coventry in central England and is capable of building over 20,000 taxi units annually. The plant is about the size of five football pitches and will be powered by solar panels. Moreover, it would produce the "best ultra-low emission commercial vehicles in the world."
"Today marks the rebirth of the London Taxi Company," LTC CEO Chris Gubbey said.
Geely, which also owns Volvo, said it will also incorporate the Swedish carmaker's technologies and components in its new cabs. The factory's opening will also pave way to more than 1,000 new job opportunities for the locals. And so far, at least 600 people have been employed to launch the TX5 electric black cab.
The plant is "the first brand new automotive manufacturing facility in Britain for over a decade, the first dedicate electric vehicle factory in the UK and the first major Chinese investment in UK automotive," Carl-Peter Forster, LTC chairman, said.
The plant also received a £16.1 million ($20 million) investment from the UK government.
Meanwhile, aside from ditching diesel through its electric taxi cabs, Geely will also open 500 more jobs and could add a £30 million ($37 million) worth of investment to produce electric vans, which could see a total production peak at 36,000 electric vehicles per year.
Geely made it clear that although it referred to the previous investment figure at £300 million ($374 million), the "strictly accurate figure" stands at about £295 million ($368 million).
The government is making £50 million ($62 million) available in grants to subsidize the purchase of the new electric taxi that cost £7,500 ($9,366) per car. It would also dedicate £14 million ($17.5 million) to set up electric charging points.