Beijing 2010: Geely's London Taxi-aping Englon TXN

As promised, Geely brought its Englon TXN to this year's Beijing Motor Show. In the flesh, the intended successor to London's black cab throne looks more than capable of hauling drunken tourists from place to place. The car appears to have stuck pretty close to the renderings we saw earlier this month, though we have to say the exterior looks quite a bit better under the show lights than it did photoshopped among England's various landmarks.

The company also displayed its TX4 � a more spacious version also built just for taxi duty. Both cars are motivated by either a 2.4-liter gasoline engine mated to a five-speed automatic gearbox or a 2.5-liter diesel powerplant that can be had with a five-speed manual transmission. So far Geely hasn't released any power numbers.

We do know that the cars will command a price tag that should fall in the $30,500 range at current exchange rates � not exactly cheap by anyone's standards. Will British taxi companies will be willing to give up their old rides for these new, Chinese-built examples? Hard telling, but at least they look the part.