Nissan Design Finds the Perfect Yellow for New York's Taxi of Tomorrow

San Diego, Calif. – Each day, 600,000 New Yorkers hop in the back of a taxi – the iconic yellow cab that is a symbol of New York City around the world. When the city's Taxi of Tomorrow, the 2014 Nissan NV200 Taxi, arrives on New York streets, the vehicles will sport a new, and brighter, shade of yellow thanks to Nissan designers in San Diego, Calif.

Before choosing a new yellow hue, however, Nissan's design team pushed to see if another color might be an option. "We actually started first to check and see if there was a chance to change from yellow to something else," said Francois Farion, senior manager of color and design for Nissan. "We had to do that just to make sure there wasn't any chance to change from yellow to something else."

When it became clear the mission was to remain "yellow", Nissan's team set about finding inspiration and innovation in some unlikely places such as grocery stores and hardware aisles. Between price considerations, repair issues, testing and pigment concerns, arriving at the perfect shade of yellow took about a year. "You have all of these yellows currently on New York taxis," said Farion. "We wanted to make it look slightly lighter and slightly fresher."

Soon a new Taxi will be on the streets of New York, sporting a new shade of yellow that, according to Nissan designers, is icon-worthy.

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