GregTR

I'm in Berlin,running the 40th Berlin Marathon tomorrow morning and today at the Airport this is what I saw within 2 minutes time:





Then This one pulled up:



Then I noticed this one in the rear:



And finally I got all 3 of them in the shot:



Then I turned the other way and saw these two waiting for those executives to take them home:



I also went to the Mercedes Benz Gallery, I'll post those photos up tomorrow. Far less beige there...

K-A

Ahh that reminds me of Frankfurt (I would have rather been in Berlin). A sea of pee-yellow E Classes. Interestingly those are vinyl wraps not actual paint colors.

PGT

the taxi I got from Munich was a pee yellow S-Class. LOL.

steelgrey

Just out of curiosity K-A...how many years have they been using E classes/S classes for taxis. Can you explain the agreement between MB and the German taxi governing authority. What is the financial agreement between the two. I'm sure they have some sort of a financial agreement. I'm interested in knowing.

BenzV12

Thanks for the pics, that color shade is kinda quirk compared to the NY taxi cabs but still cool

karamb

I'd like to know that, too. I just purchased my first MB 2 days ago - a 2011 E350 and it's funny that while I'm still lusting over pics of my new car, the same cars are floating around Germany as taxis. LOL

I knew Mercs were used as taxis, but seriously, these are new mercs.

Arrie

I don't think the taxi governing authority in Germany sets the rule what car make you must have. There are plenty of other than just MB cars doing taxi but sure most of them are MB E-class.

I think the authority sets some sort of limit for the minimum size for the taxi car and that it has to be that ugly yellow color.

Lots of taxis in Europe are MB just because they can be bought with very low or no tax at all for taxi use.

MB has been the most popular taxi in lots of European countries even before they had the E-class. The big boat used be called C-class. A good one was a C300.

CEB

Most German companies have a division dedicated to police, taxi and driving schools. These cars are specially outfitted for the specific needs. Here is the MB taxi page and the VW taxi page

Originally taxis were repainted every year - with the "taxi cream" used in the summer and black in the winter.

Taxis - regardless of make - fall into their own tax brackets.

I'm not sure where you got the notion about the C300. MB taxis traditionally have very small diesel engines (certainly not a C300). In the 50's, you'd see MB 170's (W136), then 180's (W120) and the W110 and W115.

Mercedes was one of the first to have the taxi division installing heavy duty interior materials (MB-Tex), larger cooling systems, taxi meters and the like.

Here is a W110 in summer livery

and in winter gear


In that era, the BMW 501 was another major player in the taxi scene in Europe

fintail

All this, yet it doesn't hurt brand equity at home, even though some in NA will whine. Love it.

FWIW, there are BMW taxis in Germany, too - just a lot less common (as the model range is less diverse).

W210

I am glad they have many of these of the road, that means parts are easy to come by and if there are problems out there, it will not be too difficult to duplicate and resolve.

Tomspo04

It says allot about the reliability of the platform. Also, for Mercedes, a great test bed.

pappilo

I live in England and any car that is bought to be used as a taxi will not have VAT paid on it. Thats a saving of 20% on a base spec 4 pot diesel engine Mercedes. I believe the drivers like Mercedes as they are known to cover hundreds of thousands of miles with little or no problems.

I drive a silver (the most common color) W212 and I always hate driving through central London as there are a thousand and 1 E/S class taxis going through there at any one time.