If you own a car, it’s probably a rare event for you to take a taxi. Most of us prefer to be at the wheel of our own vehicle, for a number of reasons. For many others, however, the taxi is a principal means of transportation, and those people don’t need convincing to hop into one to get where they’re going.
So what it would it take to get, vehicle owner, to hail a cab? Here are 25 taxi models that could well convince the average car owner to leave their ride at home…
1 – Daimler Taxi Cab 1895-1899
On June 26, 1896, a wagon operator in Stuttgart, Germany, decided to order a car from the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschatt company. He had it fully equipped to operate as a taxi, and took delivery in 1897 – and thus became the proud owner of the first motor-operated taxi.
At that time the automobile had existed for barely a dozen years, and in that time it had not occurred to anyone to convert it to use as a taxi. The taxis that did exist were passenger-filled wagons still being pulled by horses. Until this first “modern” taxi hit the roads in and around Stuttgart. Its rear section even features a heating system, which was totally revolutionary for its time.
The man with that brilliant idea was Friedrich Greiner. Bringing his idea to fruition required a sizable investment on his part, but it also proved profitable. His motorized vehicle allowed him to cover 70 km per day, far more than could be traveled using horses. People loved the experience so much that Greiner added taxis to his fleet of transport vehicles, and by 1899 he had seven of them. As the 20th century dawned, the era of the motorized taxi was underway.
