Beginner’s guide to levc

What’s LEVC and when did it start making cars?

LEVC was set up in 2013 by Chinese firm Geely. Er, what? Well, we’re going to cheat here and go back to 1919, when Bobby Jones set up a coachbuilding firm in Coventry.

The name gave it away – harking back to a time when carmakers built rolling chassis for customers to add what they wanted on top, Carbodies made fancier versions of MG and Alvis cars through the Twenties. It expanded through to Rover, Railton and Rootes, even making aeroplane parts in World War Two.

Carbodies landed the deal to make the Austin FX3 taxi’s body in 1948, then the FX4 in 1958. It was sold to the BSA Group in 1954, took on full production of the FX4 in 1971 (other projects included making the bonnet for Jag’s E-type), was sold to Manganese Bronze Holdings in 1973, then took over full rights for the FX4 in 1982.

With taxis its bread and butter, Carbodies became London Taxis International in 1985. An all-new black cab, the TX1, arrived in 1997. In 2010 it was rebranded as The London Taxi Company and signed a deal with Geely for a Chinese factory for the overseas market. LTC went bust in 2012, Geely bought its assets in 2013 and kept the name going, before ditching it for the London EV Company (LEVC) badge in 2017.

LEVC’s greatest hits

01Austin FX3

Back when LEVC was still known as Carbodies, it secured a lucrative contract to build the post-war FX3 taxi. Designed to comply with the Conditions of Fitness for London taxicabs, the FX3 was a success with over 12,000 produced.

02Austin FX4

The FX3’s successor arrived in 1958, but remarkably it remained in production with just a few updates (and name changes) all the way through until 1997. In 1982 Carbodies took over the rights to the hackney carriage from British Leyland.

03London Taxis International TX4

Before it was owned by Geely and before things went electric, LEVC was also known as London Taxis International. Confusingly, the 2007 turbodiesel TX4 was actually the third generation of LTI’s revised black cab after the TX1 and TXII.

04LEVC TX

It’s not easy updating an icon – just ask the team that worked on 2002’s Ford Thunderbird. Still, the TX has been a roaring success, and back in March 2023 LEVC announced that