China passengers to hail London's black cabs

London's iconic black cabs may soon become a common sight on the streets of inland Chinese cities where many people have only had a glimpse of the bulky British car in Alfred Hitchcock's movies.

Geely Automobile Holdings (0175.HK), a major Chinese indigenous car maker and its British partner Manganese Bronze Holdings (MNGS.L), plan to sell about 1,000 of these cars in China this year.

At a sprawling manufacturing facility in the suburbs of Shanghai, workers are busy producing TX4 models, which hit the market last week and have already secured more than 200 orders from corporate and private buyers in China.

"Our customers are mostly wealthy people buying the cab for their loved ones. Driving a classic black cab can attract a lot of eyeballs. There aren't many out there in the streets," said Jinliang Lau, general manager of Geely group's sales arm.

Apart from selling black cabs to hotels and wealthy private owners, Geely is also lobbying local government and taxi operators in major cities all over the country.

"We have 30 black cabs in service in Beijing since the Olympics and they are quite popular among local residents," Lau told Reuters at Geely's headquarters in Hangzhou, nearly four hours' drive from Shanghai.

"We are in talks with other cities, mostly provincial capitals, and would hopefully get the cab in cities such as Lanzhou and Chengdu before the end of the year," Lau said, adding he had secured an initial order of up to 50 TX4 models from the local government in the northwestern city of Lanzhou.

Lau said he aims to boost sales to between 3,000 and 5,000 units annually in the next two to three years, from around 1,000 in 2009, to corporate and private buyers as well as taxi operators.