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The London Taxi Corporation Ltd (trading as The London Taxi Company; formerly Manganese Bronze Holdings plc) is an automotive engineering company headquartered in Coventry, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese automaker Geely. It was founded in 1899 and its principal activity is the design, development and production of taxicabs. Once an important conglomerator of British motorcycle marques, the sale of its components division in 2003 left the company with only one operating division—LTI Limited, trading as The London Taxi Company—which manufactures London black taxicabs for the UK market at its manufacturing site in Coventry and in Shanghai for sale in the rest of the world. It retails and provides maintenance services for taxis in major cities globally. In October 2012, Manganese entered administration, having not made a profit since 2007. Geely, which already owned 20% of the shares in the company's UK business, agreed to purchase the London Taxi Company's principal assets and trade from the administrator in order to save the business and continue the production of taxis in Coventry. ==History== Manganese originally made ship propellers. In the early 1960s Manganese Bronze Bearings Ltd (as it was then known) was taken over by Villiers Engineering Ltd, a motorcycle company chiefly known for its range of engines, creating Manganese Bronze Holdings Ltd. This company subsequently bought Associated Motor Cycles Ltd, owners of the Norton AJS and Matchless motorcycle brands in 1964. Manganese absorbed part of the Birmingham Small Arms Company in 1973, under chairman Dennis Poore, as part of a rescue plan initiated by the British government. BSA Motorcycles interests trading as Triumph were combined with Manganese motorcycle production to form Norton Villiers Triumph. BSA Guns was liquidated in 1986. BSA's components businesses became Manganese Bronze Components Division, comprising sintering, precision casting and metal powders; this division was sold in 2003 and went bankrupt a short period later. In January 2003 Manganese launched Zingo Taxi, an innovative taxi hailing system using mobile location technology. This was sold to Computer Cab in November 2004 for £1. This was to stem large losses because only 1,100 of London's approximately 21,000 taxi drivers subscribed. Between July 2003 and November 2004 Manganese also sold its property portfolio, including the land under its Coventry manufacturing facility. In October 2006 Manganese and the Chinese automaker Geely announced the creation of a China-based taxicab manufacturing joint venture. An extraordinary general meeting held in January 2007 of Manganese's shareholders approved the formation of the joint venture. In June 2008 Manganese announced the production of the first prototype TX4 taxi at its Chinese joint venture, LTI Shanghai.〔Manganese Completes First Prototype of Chinese Built TX4 Taxi, Regulatory News Item, 25 June 2008 ()〕 In July 2008 Manganese announced that it would be making redundant 40 employees as a result of the global economic downturn. On 29 June 2009 the company advised that Geely had a notifiable interest in 6,085,000 of the company's ordinary shares, representing 19.971% of the issued ordinary share capital. In March 2010 it was announced that Manganese would move the production of all taxicab bodies and chassis to Shanghai, but TX4 cabs for the UK market would continue to be assembled in Coventry. In the same month it was reported that Geely would increase its shareholding in Manganese to 51% through participation in a placing of new shares.〔 In August 2010 it was announced that Geely had decided not to proceed with the share placement and its shareholding in Manganeze would remain at just under 20%. Manganese entered administration on 22 October 2012 after failing to secure additional funding; PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were appointed as the administrator. On 31 October PwC announced that 156 Manganese staff in the UK were to be made redundant with immediate effect, out of the company's then total of 274 employees in the country, with the losses spread across its manufacturing facility, head office and dealerships. In January 2013, it was reported that Geely was in negotiations to buy the remaining shares of the company from PwC in order to save the business. A press statement in February 2013 announced that an agreement had been reached for Geely to purchase the remainder of the London Taxi Company's assets, manufacturing rights, unsold stock and dealerships, with a new company called Geely UK Ltd. resuming assembly of the London black cab in Coventry. In 2015 Geely announced plans to build a new £250 million plant for the London Taxi Company in Ansty Park near Coventry, with production planned to start at the new site in 2017. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The London Taxi Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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