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CHEVROLET cabs will join an increasingly bewildering array of taxi models on the road soon. Transport group SMRT Corp, the third biggest taxi operator here, has ordered 2,000 Chevrolet Tosca sedans from Chevy agent Alpine Motors. The Tosca is a Korean domestic name for the Epica - a popular Chevrolet executive sedan here. The taxi variant is a 2-litre turbodiesel vehicle with a six-speed automatic transmission. Alpine managing director Albert Pang said the 2,000 Chevy taxis will be delivered by 2012, and that SMRT has signed an option for more after that. The first ones will be delivered in the first quarter of next year. 'This deal took over two years to put together,' Mr Pang said, adding that 'a few other taxi companies have talked to us', but the Chevy cabs are only for SMRT for now. He would not disclose the price of the vehicle, but The Straits Times understands the Korean-made American model is close to what a Hyundai Sonata cab was priced at - about $50,000 without a Certificate Of Entitlement. SMRT was displaced recently as the second biggest cab operator here, after being overtaken by newcomer Trans-Cab. It has about 2,600 taxis on the road, compared with Trans-Cab's 4,000. At its second-quarter financial results announcement last week, the company said it would renew its ageing fleet and increase its number of vehicles. SMRT is known for its eclectic mix of taxis, which include Ssangyong, Chrysler, Mercedes and London cabs. Its taxi business has been making either losses or very modest profits in the last decade. For the quarter ended Sept 30, it posted an operating profit before taxes of $374,000 - down from $773,000 in the previous corresponding period. Including the Chevy, there are now 35 models of taxis here - nearly three times the variety five years ago. And 10 years ago, there were only a handful, with Toyota's Crown and Nissan's Cedric dominating the scene. But when the stricter Euro IV emission standard was implemented four years ago, the two Japanese stalwarts fell off the scene because they did not have variants that could meet Euro IV. Hence, the influx of new cabs. New models have included models from Honda, Volkswagen, Skoda and even China's Chery. And last year, Prime Taxis, the newest cab company here, started using petrol-electric hybrid cabs. Renault agent Wearnes Automotive has also been in talks with cab companies to supply vehicles. Despite the wide array of taxi types, the Land Transport Authority said there should be no risk of commuters wanting to flag one down mistaking them for ordinary cars.

Yo ! Looks like GMDAT have replaced the previous big car Magnus with this new TOSCA model ! http://www.gmdat.com/kor/index.jsp Check out the all aluminium 6 cylinder engine both in the 2.0 and 2.5 litre form ! Looks and sounds great ! This engine should be very very smooth ! In the US, Chevrolet have named the previous Magnus as Epica ! Wonder if the same name would be used ? From the side, it sure looks like the new Sonata ! CBX