Well, so far i think there are still 4-5 diesel cab left in HK,
mostly older Toyota Crown that are around 1992-1994, the Crown
Comfort are all scrapped since they are not that reliable, and
mostly the interior/ exterior are parts for Hong Kong, and
Japan.
As they scrapped almost 15000 of the toyota crown taxi from 1995
models to 2000 models, there are tones of cheap parts. this is also
why people choose Crown Comfort LPG, because there are enought used
parts and also cheap new parts for that car....As Crown are now 98%
of the market share (as of Dec. 2005) Nissan, due to it's aging
design and heavier, are now not a favor of Red Cab owners, but
there are still some Green Cab, as New Territories need more
stronger vehicle. and Crown are not that storng..
There were also 10 Ford Falcon Wagon (Australian) but now there are
only 3 left, 2 red, one green..As the mileage is not that great,
and expensive parts.
Well, for LPG, you simply fill them up @ Caltex, Shell, or ECO
Energy Company Limited (12 stations), however, there are not alot
of them available, probably around 20 LPG Station in HK, therefore,
you see LPG Taxi and Minibus line up for filling up gas. (BTW: LPG
minibus is not that popular, due to small tank size)
Also, nowadays Taxi life are about 3-5 years, compare to 7-12 years
before, this is due to easier financing, and also (most of the cab
are sold to cab dealer/company, they they either resale/ lease to
driver, as the distributer rarly sells to general public)
As for Macau, Crown are rare site (only 4 known to be exist, 2
crown comfort, and 2 older crowns), as most drivers used to prefer
Toyota Corona/ Nissan Cedric, but now, the available cab for
general purchase (black cab) are Toyota Corolla, Litace, and
Mercedes Vito. As those Cedric were left over Diesel stock of Hong
Kong when they switch to LPG. Also, the market for taxi were used
to be similar to Hong Kong (except the Isuzu Aska, Mazda 323,
Toyota Corolla, which were never popular in Hong Kong in the early
80s, but popular in Macau) due to the small size of Macau market,
and similar regulation of vehicle. For the Corona however, latter
stocks were specially for Macau (as Hong Kong stops the sales of 4
seaters around 1990, hint the interior door panel is painted black/
white, but not red). Nowaday, all Macau taxis are special stock for
Macau, as the regulation changed and different then Hong Kong.
(However, for corolla, liteace, they are similar spec as the
Singapore and Thailand versions)
Also, one interesting fact: All Macau Taxi are painted in Hong Kong
and have Hong Kong meters and taxi sign, (even the taxi signs on
the side of newer vehicles are same font as Hong Kong once)
